WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's nominee for surgeon
general has a reputation as someone with the kind of forceful
personality that would make her effective as the people's health
advocate.
Dr. Regina Benjamin is a family physician from a southern
Alabama fishing community (Bayou La Batre). A decade ago, the New
York Times described her as an "angel in a white coat," a country
doctor who made house calls along the impoverished Gulf Coast and
was paid only what her patients could scrounge.
Benjamin's nonprofit clinic was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina,
then rebuilt by volunteers only to burn down months later. On
receiving a half-million "genius grant" from the MacArthur
Foundation last fall, she spoke of accepting a $7 donation from a
woman desperate for the clinic to be rebuilt again. Benjamin said,
"If she can find $7, I can figure out the rest." She dedicated
the grant money to finishing the job.
Her nomination for surgeon general requires Senate confirmation.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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