President Obama Announces Nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. Regina Benjamin
July 13, 2009
President Obama Announces Nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. Regina Benjamin

Today, President Obama announced Dr. Regina Benjamin as his nominee for the U.S. Surgeon General. Dr. Benjamin is the Founder and CEO of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Alabama, which provides primary care to people of all ages regardless of income or insurance status. President Obama called Dr. Benjamin a “relentless promoter of prevention and wellness programs.”
Nationally she is well known for her commitment to the poor in her home community, returning to Bayou La Batre after medical and residency to build open a medical office. That commitment has been acknowledged in many awards and honors, including a MacArthur Genius Award and the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights. In 1995, she also became the first person under 40 to be elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees.  Dr. Benjamin was elected as President of the Medical Association of Alabama in 2002 becoming the first African-American woman to be president of a state medical society. If confirmed as Surgeon General, Dr. Benjamin’s hope is to be “America’s doctor, America’s family physician “ who will “communicate directly with the American people to help guide them through whatever changes may come with health care reform.”

See also:

Whitehouse.gov – Dr. Regina Benjamin: Nominee for Surgeon General

The White House, Office of the Press Secretary: Remarks by the President in Announcement of U.S. Surgeon General