Regina Benjamin, MD is the Former United States Surgeon General and a practicing family physician. In July 2009, Benjamin was appointed as the 18th United States Surgeon General and served a four – year term. During that period, Benjamin served as the Chair of the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council, which consists of 17 cabinet – level Federal agencies that released the first ever National Prevention Strategy, a roadmap for health.
Benjamin is currently the Founder and CEO of BayouClinic, Inc., a Federally Qualified Health Center Look – Alike clinic in Alabama. In 2002, Benjamin became the first African- American female president of a state medical society in the United States when she assumed leadership of the Medical Association State of Alabama. Benjamin was the first physician under the age of 40 and the first African-American woman to be elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees.