Surgeon general list
By Jude Luke
Dr. Regina Benjamin served as the 18th US Surgeon General from 2009-2013, making her the 3rd black woman in history to hold the rank. During her tenure, Dr. Benjamin was able to shift the focus of medicine in America from a reactive, treatment-based style, to a proactive style that understands the importance of lifestyle and socioeconomic factors on health. She frequently cites her brother’s death to HIV, father’s death to diabetes, and mother’s death to lung cancer as “preventable diseases” which have shaped her views.
Regina was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1956. After being the first person from her family to attend and graduate from medical school, Benjamin opened her own rural health clinic in Alabama. Over the course of Dr. Benjamin’s career, she served in multiple leadership positions in several organizations. Among these President of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama in 2002, member of the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Associa Dr regina benjamin married!