Dr. Regina Benjamin Confirmed as U.S. Surgeon General

Washington, DC — U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, as the nation’s Surgeon General. Benjamin is founder and CEO of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. She is the immediate past-chair of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the U.S. and previously served as associate dean for Rural Health at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. In 2002, she became president of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, making her the first African American woman to hold this position at a state medical society in the U.S. “Dr. Benjamin will quickly become America’s doctor as our next Surgeon General. Her deep knowledge and strong medical skills, her commitment to her patients, and her ability to inspire the people she interacts with every day will serve her well as Surgeon General,” Secretary Sebelius said.