Staff Report
Montgomery – Judge Mark Kennedy and the Alabama Democratic Majority honor the service of Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD MBA, a native of Bayou la Batre, whose resignation will be effective July 16.
“Dr. Benjamin has served the nation well in her capacity as ‘America’s Doctor’ and she has made all of us in Alabama proud,” said Judge Mark Kennedy, Chairman of the Alabama Democratic Majority. “I know that Regina’s commitment to public health will not stop when she returns home to Alabama’s gulf coast”.
Since her appointment as Surgeon General in 2009, Benjamin has focused her career on preventive care, aiming to create a “grassroots movement to change our healthcare system from one focused on sickness and disease to a system focused on wellness and prevention.”
As a result of her dedication to public health, Benjamin was recently named to the Reader’s Digest “100 Most Trusted People in America” list.
Prior to serving as Surgeon General, Benjamin founded the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic, which has worked to expand affordable access to health care in rural Mobile County.
In 1995, Benjamin was the first African American woman elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees and in 2002, she became the first African American woman elected to head a state medical association as she assumed the role of President of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama.
Benjamin is a graduate of UAB Medical School.
Benjamin plans to return to Bayou la Batre next month and continue her commitment to public health.
