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The Doctor Is (Finally) In: Obama To Nominate Regina Benjamin as Surgeon General
July 13, 2009 11:23 AM
ABC News' Jake Tapper, Sunlen Miller, and Karen Travers report:
President Obama will name Dr. Regina Benjamin as U.S. Surgeon General in a Rose Garden announcement late this morning.
Benjamin, an Alabama family physician, runs a rural health clinic in Bayou La Batre. She was the first African-American woman to head a state medical society and received a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” last year.
She became known nationally for her determination to rebuild her clinic, destroyed in Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
In her profile on the National Institutes of Health web site, Benjamin writes about her calling to become a doctor while in medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
“I believe it was divine intervention -- it was in medical school when I realized there was nothing else I'd rather do with my life than to be a doctor. I had never seen a black doctor before I went to college, so I did not have an idea that I wanted to be one. I never thought I that I couldn't, but I never really thought about it at all.”
According to a 1997 article in Ebony, Benjamin said she applied to Yale University School of Law before she attended college. “They sent me a reply politely telling me that I needed my undergraduate degree first."
To pay for college, she turned to the National Health Service Corps, which gave her a tuition reimbursement in exchange for committing to work in areas where there was a shortage of doctors.
That agreement took her to Bayou La Batre where she was the only doctor for 2,500 people, most of whom lived below the poverty line and spoke no English.
Benjamin was named the Person of the Week on ABC News’ World News Tonight in 1995 and conveyed the challenges of servicing poor patients.
“The people are real, genuine, hardworking. They're proud people. They make a living the best they can on shrimp boats. They, unfortunately, are too poor to pay their medical bills at times,” she told ABC News’ Peter Jennings. “Sometimes it's very frustrating. Sometimes I can do everything that the textbooks taught me and school taught me and then patients can't buy their medicine. And it's all for nothing."
In January, it was reported that President Obama had asked CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta to be Surgeon General, and that Gupta had mulled the offer for a while, but eventually turned it down.
Benjamin will appear in the Rose Garden today as the president makes the nomination formal.
-- Jake Tapper, Sunlen Miller and Karen Travers
July 13, 2009 in Obama, Barack | Permalink | Share | User Comments (29)
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I think people who have never been to college believe that its uncommon to change their majors....lol. I changed my major twice before I decided on one. I also graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a BSN(Bachelors of Nursing)which happens to be one of the top universities in the southeast. No its not Yale or Harvard, but its produces some of the best doctors and nurses in the country. I believe she's an excellent candidate.
Posted by: Mya | Jul 14, 2009 10:02:10 AM
Reading these comments reminds me of the old tune, "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?
Conservative Republicans need to make a decision about the type of people they want serving within our governmental system, because your statements frequently appear contradictory. For instance, many of you state that we need someone who is not an East Coast elitist, a person who is "one of the people," a hard-working person who understands the average American--a person from the Sarah Palin-like genre.
Then, when President Obama appoints a person who apparently perseveres in the face of multiple crises, invests her own money to provide medical services to the people of a rural area, and has a determined, can-do spirit to continue providing help to poor and working-class citizens,
contradictorily, many of you say that such a person is not qualified, or you suggest that Obama should have chosen someone from one of the "top" medical schools. Are you requesting a person from one of those Eastern, elitist schools you claim to despise?
Just wondering.
Posted by: tessablue | Jul 13, 2009 8:25:13 PM
Those of you who actually went to college should know that students change their minds about what they want to major in while they're in college. It doesn't make them any less smart than anyone else. They usually go on to do just fine once they finally find out what it is they want to do with their lives.
Many people major in and get degrees in areas that don' fulfill them. It's good that she found out what she wanted to do. Obviously she's good at what she does. She was the first black to be head of the medical society in Alabama no less.
Stop being ignorant.
If he'd have chosen another Harvard alumni then it would've been said that he was bias. And President Obama didn't get us in this mess the pass two Presidents did, so stop trying to blame him for things that were done before he got here.
Posted by: LAW | Jul 13, 2009 5:54:01 PM
You poor people...
If President Obama cured cancer, you would still find something wrong or say he didn't do it fast enough. Maybe you should do your own research on Dr. Benjamin instead of letting the media be your primary source. Being so cynical can be a form of ignorance. Get help!!!
Posted by: ACS | Jul 13, 2009 5:01:16 PM
@fiercely independent:
I believe Obama got into Harvard because he was an excellent student at Columbia (I believe?). His tuition was paid for with scholarships and student loans.
And you are an alum of???
Posted by: realistic | Jul 13, 2009 4:52:15 PM
Gotta wonder... has she paid her taxes??
Posted by: FiercelyIndependent | Jul 13, 2009 3:15:39 PM
so what:
Getting into a top school is only part of the equation, you have to have the experience after graduating too-like Sotomayor. And, while I'm on the subject, how DID Obama get into Harvard and who paid his fees?
Posted by: Keith | Jul 13, 2009 2:46:17 PM
@so what,
No, I'd be calling her "qualified", unlike the person who nominated her.
Oh! you mean the guy who went to the top schools. INCONSISTENT-good job Keithy
Posted by: so what | Jul 13, 2009 2:14:22 PM
@so what,
No, I'd be calling her "qualified", unlike the person who nominated her.
Posted by: Keith | Jul 13, 2009 2:03:26 PM
keith -"Nice lady, but was nobody available who graduated from one of the top medical schools?"
If she was then you'd be calling her elite. Get a job so we can nominate you
Posted by: so what | Jul 13, 2009 1:55:04 PM
Oh look! It's what the GOP had hoped to do with rural America Sarah Palin - except in this case we have someone who actually deserves the promotion.
Much better than Sanjay Gupta. LOL at Obama for that one!
Posted by: Trudy | Jul 13, 2009 1:47:45 PM
One of Obama's best choices so far. Obama gave us two (2) losers examples - just look at the CIA and Attorney General both huge losers.
Posted by: a citizen | Jul 13, 2009 1:40:59 PM
This woman doesn't have the experience to be our nations Surgeon General. Oh well, it's par for the course with the less than stellar Obama at the helm. Obama didn't have the experience either and look what a fine mess he's made of things.
Posted by: afkbrad | Jul 13, 2009 1:38:09 PM
Hopefully she'll be better than Joycelyn Elders.
Posted by: LongT | Jul 13, 2009 1:06:30 PM
Cricketmk3; I don't know anything about her. I just find it strange that you suddenly find out what you want to do when you're pursuing it. Sounds like drama to me.
Posted by: LongT | Jul 13, 2009 1:04:19 PM
On June 2, 1995, the late great Peter Jennings profiled Dr. Regina Benjamin, whom President Obama nominated as his Surgeon General nominee, as the World News Tonight Person of the Week.
I saw this on this site a minute ago.
Posted by: Bill Graves | Jul 13, 2009 12:57:25 PM
We get the picture LongT...you don't approve of the choice.
Posted by: Cricketmk3 | Jul 13, 2009 12:39:11 PM
Some of you people would complain if Jesus Christ was selected as surgeon general. I'm sure this lady will do as good of a job as any.
Posted by: Cricketmk3 | Jul 13, 2009 12:37:40 PM
Who is this guy Jake Tapper? As if he himself is the news story, there his picture is prominently displayed. Uh, maybe you want to show a picture of Dr. Benjamin this time?
What a character.
Posted by: Tim | Jul 13, 2009 12:37:16 PM
Nice lady, but was nobody available who graduated from one of the top medical schools? Or is it only important for lawyers to graduate from one of the top schools, like, for instance, Harvard?
Posted by: Keith | Jul 13, 2009 12:31:30 PM
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