Regina Benjamin

Regina Benjamin's appointment to the post of U.S. Surgeon General in 2009 by President Barack Obama capped a career already abounding with professional accolades. A family-practice physician in the small town of Bayou La Batre, Alabama, Benjamin had been lauded in media profiles as far back as 1995 for her devotion to her patients; moreover, her clinic had been twice wiped out by hurricanes, and then destroyed entirely by fire just months after Hurricane Katrina. In announcing Benjamin's name as the next surgeon general, Obama asserted that Benjamin "represents what's best about health care in America--doctors and nurses who give and care and sacrifice for the sake of their patients," according to the New York Times. Benjamin served as surgeon...