A Bayou Doctor Comes to Washington

Ameria’s new surgeon general Dr. Regina Benjamin has made sacrifice a key objective throughout her medical career. Folklore has her not only tending to the nation’s poor but sometimes accepting pints of oysters as payment.

President Obama on Monday announced his choice for surgeon general, Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, center. With them at the White House was the health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius. Haraz N. Ghanbari/Associated PressIn 2002 Dr. Benjamin became the president of the Alabama Medical Association the first African-American woman to be president of a state medical society in the United States. In September, she was one of 25 recipients of the $500,000 “genius awards,” awarded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

After Hurricane Katrina destroyed her clinic a second time (the first by a fire), Dr. Benjamin first got it rebuilt and then continued to serve with IOUs. Today the clinic owes her over $300,000. Read the NYTimes: Regina Marcia Benjamin - A Doctor From the Bayou.