Obama picks Alabama “country doctor” Regina Benjamin for Surgeon General
July 13, 2009 at 12:59 pm by Stephen Hammill
President Obama today unveiled Dr. Regina Benjamin today as his choice for Surgeon General.
A rural Alabama family physician, Benjamin made some headlines rebuilding her nonprofit Gulf Coast medical clinic in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Obama said during the news conference announcing the pick, “For all the tremendous obstacles that she has overcome, Regina Benjamin also represents what’s best about health care in America, doctors and nurses who give and care and sacrifice for the sake of their patients.”
Benjamin calls the job a physician’s dream. “I cannot change my family’s past,” she said. “I can be a voice in the movement to improve our nation’s health care and our nation’s health. I want to be sure that no one falls through the cracks as we improve our health care system.”
Read more about Benjamin below the jump:
Read Benjamin’s biography here.
