Alabamian Regina Benjamin Nominated for Surgeon General | dr. regina benjamin

Another Alabamian has been tapped by President Obama for service in Washington. Dr. Regina Benjamin will be nominated for U.S. Surgeon General, according to the Associated Press this morning.

From AP:

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.” But 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.

Time magazine name Dr. Benjamin one of “50 future leaders of the country age 40 and under” in a Dec. 5, 1994 cover story (pictured). CBS This Morning named her “Woman of the Year” for 1996.

Here is a biography of Dr. Benjamin prepared in August 2006 at the time of her induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor.

Alabamian Robert Gibbs, an Auburn native, serves as Obama’s press secretary.

This item provided by Doc's Political Parlor