Obama picks surgeon general
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
President Obama nominates Regina Benjamin, a primary care physician with an interest in preventive health care, as surgeon general. In a July 13 briefing, Benjamin detailed deaths of her relatives that could have been prevented. Benjamin runs the La Batre Rural Health Clinic she founded in Alabama in 1990, and is the first black woman and first person under age 40 elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees. If confirmed by the Senate, Benjamin would replace acting Surgeon General Steve Galson, the former Center for Drug Evaluation and Research director and rumored candidate to head FDA's Center for Tobacco Products (1"The Tan Sheet" June 15, 2009)