Obama Names Surgeon General

In a Rose Garden ceremony at the White House on Monday, President Obama named Dr. Regina M. Benjamin as his nominee for US surgeon general.

Benjamin is a family physician practicing in Bayou La Batre, Ala., a rural shrimping village where more than 40 percent of the 2,500 residents have no health insurance. A graduate of Xavier University, Morehouse School of Medicine, and the University of Alabama School of Medicine, Benjamin in 2002 became the first African-American woman to head a state medical society. Her training was funded by the National Health Service Corps, a federal program that offers doctors in training free tuition in exchange for a promise to practice in areas with few physicians.

In her remarks, Benjamin noted how her family history gave her a passion for prevention work: "My father died with diabetes and hypertension. My older brother died at age 44 of HIV-related illness. My mother died of lung cancer because as a young girl she wanted to smoke, just like her twin brother could. My family's not here with me today, at least not in person, because of preventable diseases," Benjamin said. "While I can't change my family's past, I can be a voice in the movement to improve our nation's health care and our nation's health for the future."

Benjamin's nomination now goes before the Senate for confirmation.

Back to other news for July 2009