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Just as confirmation hearings commence for President Obama’s nominee for Supreme Court justice, today he announced his pick for U.S. Surgeon General.

Dr. Regina Benjamin, an Alabama family physician, runs the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic, which serves a small Gulf Coast shrimping community of approximately 2,500 people, most of whom live below the poverty line. Benjamin, who founded the clinic in 1990, gained national attention when she determinedly fought to rebuild it after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In 2002 she became president of the Medical Association State of Alabama, making her the first African American woman to head a state medical society, and last year she received a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Award” fellowship.

Benjamin, 52, attended Xavier University in New Orleans and was in the second class of Morehouse School of Medicine. She received her MD degree from the University of Alabama Birmingham, and an MBA from Tulane University.

“Although she could have left the state to make more money as a specialist or a doctor in a wealthier community, Regina Benjamin returned to Alabama to open a small clinic,” President Obama said in a warm introduction from the White House Rose Garden, “When people couldn’t pay, she didn’t charge them. When the clinic wasn’t making money, she didn’t take a salary for herself. When Hurricane George destroyed the clinic in 1998, she made house calls while it was being rebuilt.”

The clinic was destroyed a second time by Hurricane Katrina, and again by a fire, but Benjamin has refused to give up. President Obama said that Dr. Benjamin told him, “The one thing I want to do is make sure that this surgeon general’s office gives voice to patients, that patients have a seat at the table and have someone advocating for them.”

In brief remarks, Dr. Benjamin mentioned her mother and uncle, who are both suffering from lung cancer due to smoking. “My family’s not here with me today, at least not in person, because of preventable diseases,” she said. “While I cannot change my family’s past, I can be a voice in the movement to improve our nations’ health care and our nation’s health for the future.

“Thank you, Mr. President, for believing in me, and in return, if I am confirmed, I promise to give you and the nation my very best.”

(essence.com)

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