Reporting from Washington — President Obama announced today that he has chosen Dr. Regina Benjamin, a family physician and founder of a health clinic in a small, shrimp-farming town in Alabama, to be the nation's next surgeon general.
Benjamin in 1995 became the first black woman and the youngest doctor elected to serve on the board of the American Medical Assn. In 2008 she received a MacArthur Fellowship "genius" grant supporting her efforts to treat her patients in the Gulf Coast region regardless of their ability to pay.
Benjamin received her medical education through the National Health Service Corps, a federal program that covers medical students' tuition in exchange for work in underserved areas.
In 1990 she founded a rural health clinic in Bayou La Batre, Ala., a Gulf Coast village of about 2,500, many of whom lack health insurance. About a third of the community's residents are immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Since founding the clinic, Benjamin has worked to rebuild it three times: in 1998 after it was devastated by Hurricanes Georges; in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina; and more recently after it was destroyed by a fire.
Benjamin mortgaged her house and maxed out her credit cards in order to rebuild the clinic the second time.
If confirmed by the Senate, Benjamin will be America's leading spokesperson on issues of public health. At a White House event today, Obama prefaced her introduction with a critique of the nation's current healthcare system and by reaffirming his commitment to passing a comprehensive reform bill this summer.
Obama said that Benjamin "has seen in a very personal way what is broken about our healthcare system," including patients without health insurance, costly diseases that could have been prevented and the shortage of primary care physicians in rural areas.
Benjamin, who called the nomination "a physician's dream," said she hoped the healthcare system would give "voice" to patients.
She added: "I want to ensure that no one - no one - falls through the cracks as we improve our healthcare system."
Dr. James Rohack, president of the American Medical Assn., said in a statement that the doctors' organization is "gratified to see her recognized for her work caring for patients in rural Alabama, and for her commitment to rebuilding her rural health clinic in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. She is a true professional who puts her patients first."
ksherry@tribune.com
