President Obama listens as Dr. Regina Benjamin speaks in the Rose Garden. She called the nomination Âa physicianÂs dream and said: ÂI want to ensure that no one, no one, falls through the cracks as we improve our healthcare system. (Robert Giroux / Getty Images) |
WASHINGTON—
The Associated Press has learned that President Barack Obama has chosen a well-known Alabama family
physician, Dr. Regina Benjamin, to be the next surgeon general.An administration official said Obama will announce the nomination later Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to upstage the official announcement.
Benjamin was the first black woman to head a state medical society, received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights and just last fall received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant."
However, she made headlines in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, with her determination to rebuild her rural health clinic Bayou La Batre, Ala., which serves 4,400 patients who would be hard-pressed to find care elsewhere.
