Top 10 Amazing Facts about Regina Marcia Benjamin

 Surgeon General of the United States Regina Benjamin by Unknown Arthur/Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Regina Marcia Benjamin

Dr. Regina Marcia Benjamin is nationally recognized as an astonishing humanitarian and an expert in rural medicine. She is known as an American physician and she served as the former admiral vice in the U.S. Public health service. Benjamin become the first woman and first physician under the age of forty to be elected to the American Medical Association board of Trustees (AMA). In 1998 Regina received an award from Nelson Mandela for Health and Human rights. Although she was raised in a poor family, she enrolled at Xavier University in New Orleans Louisiana. Regina M. Benjamin was appointed by President Barack Obama as the 18th United States Surgeon General and served four terms. She also oversaw the operational command of 6,700 uniformed public health officers.

Dr. Benjamin become the first African American female president of a state medical society, she was also elected president of the Medical Association of the state of Alabama. She opened her own family practice Bayou La Batre Health clinic which later was destroyed by Hurricane Georges in 1998 and Katrina in 2005. After every storm Dr. Benjamin rolled her sleeves and rebuild, this did not stop her from caring for her patients she continued serving her patients by making house calls her motivation was based on making a difference one person at a time. Regina is 66 years of age and single currently not dating or married to anyone.

1. Dr. Benjamin attended Morehouse School of medicine

Dr. Regina Benjamin by Jim Greenhill/Wikimedia Commons

Regina Marcia Benjamin was born in Alabama in 1956, her parents got divorced when she was a little child and the mother had to raise her and her brother as a single mother. Being a single mother it was not easy to keep up financially, her mother did manual jobs to support the family. Regina’s mother worked as a waitress and a domestic servant, the family had to sell the only land they had to cater to their financial needs, but these struggles did not stop Regina Marcia from achieving her goals and ambitions. Dr. Benjamin enrolled at Xavier University in New Orleans earning a Bachelor’s degree in science. Later she attended Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta Georgia but completed her medical degree at the University of Alabama Birmingham.

Dr. Regina Benjamin is a recipient of twenty-two honorary degrees as a student at Xavier University she served as a student intern trainee for the Central Intelligence Agency. After finishing her degree at the University of Alabama she did her internship and residency at the Medical Centre of Central Georgia at Macon in family practice, she also went on a medical mission to Honduras. Regina helped bear the cost of her educational expenses by joining the National Health Service corps (NHSC) which reimbursed her tuition in exchange for a three-year commitment to practice. She was the first member of her family to attend medical school.

2. Regina Benjamin has served in several boards

Dr. Regina Benjamin by Jim Greenhill/Wikimedia Commons

Dr. Benjamin has served on a number of boards and commissions, she was elected to the board of trustees of the American Medical Association making her the first physician and first African American woman under forty years to be elected. She was nominated for the U.S. Surgeon General by President Obama making her the 18^th surgeon General. Benjamin is one of three Alabama physicians to serve as a surgeon general along with Luther Terry and David Satcher. Regina Benjamin become the first African American female president of the state medical society in 2002.

Regina was a member of the second class of the More house school of medicine, after her solo practice in Bayou La Batre Benjamin she worked for several years in the emergency rooms and nursing homes. She converted her office into a rural health clinic after receiving an MBA from the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. She served on the Florida A &M University Board of Trustees; Benjamin is a diplomate of the American Board of family practice. She was also a Kellogg National fellow and also a Rockefeller Next Generation leader.

3. Dr. Regina Benjamin President of the State Medical society

President Barack Obama with Regina Benjamin by Lawrence Jackson/Wikimedia Commons

President Barack Obama nominated Dr. Regina Benjamin as the president of the state medical society, becoming the first African American woman to head the organization. Regina has had an extensive and distinguished career in medicine. Regina has forged her career which has been recognized in a broad spectrum of organizations and publications from her early days as the founder of a rural health clinic in Alabama. She specialized in prevention policies and health promotion among individuals, large populations, obesity, childhood obesity, and children’s health.

Regina provided the public with the best scientific information to improve their health and the health of the Nation, she oversaw the operational command of over 6,500 uniformed public health officers. Before becoming America’s Doctor, she served her patients at a rural health clinic, and here is when she founded the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Alabama. Dr. Benjamin was a member of the Institute of Medicine the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, which was chartered under President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.

4. Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic

Dr. Benjamin provided medical care to the poor and she also spent four to six hours a week supervising medical students from the University of Alabama and the USA college of medicine. She served as an Associate Dean for Rural health at the University of South Alabama and Director of the Alabama area Health Education Centre which provides educational opportunities and mentors medical students. Regina Marcia founded the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic to offer medical assistance to the community of Alabama and also the to the people who could not afford medical care.

Bayou La Batre is a small shrimping village along the gulf coast, despite her clinic being destroyed by Hurricane Georges and Katrina Dr. Benjamin never gave up she still rebuilt her clinic she never gave up on her patients she carried out house calls to serve her patients better. Regina did not discriminate against anyone she made sure medical access and help were provided to each and everyone despite whether you could pay or not. I thought to myself how I wish we had more leaders like Dr. Benjamin in the world.

5. Dr. Regina has been honored with several awards

Dr. Regina Benjamin by Jim Greenhill/Wikimedia Commons

Dr. Regina Benjamin’s reputation grew over the years, and she was recognized by leaders and organizations. Benjamin has been honored with a number of humanitarian, medical, and civic awards. Nelson Mandela awarded her with the Health and Human rights award in 1998, and in 2000 she received the National Caring award from Mother Teresa. She was recognized with the papal honor Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice from Pope Benedict XVI. Regina was honored with the MacArthur Genius award fellowship. She was a recipient of the Chairman’s award during the worldwide 42^nd NAACP image awards. Readers digest ranked her as the 22^nd of the most 100 trusted people in America.

6. The Surgeon General’s vision for a healthy and fit Nation

Dr. Regina Benjamin not only offer medical care but was concerned with the health care of the Nation including obesity. She released her first document entitled The Surgeon General’s vision for a healthy and fit Nation. According to Regina two-thirds of adults and one in three children are obese, walking and biking activities have fallen dramatically, obesity has brought about health complications each year and many people die from it. In her document, she recommended that the government build and enhance infrastructure to support more walking and cycling, to support locating schools within easy walking distance of residential areas.

Regina offers a blueprint to change and promote the health and wellness of families and communities. Obesity is an issue that many Nations try to tackle, in today’s generation not so many people want to sweat, unlike in the earlier days when one would walk from one place to another, unlike today where one can drive from point A to B. One of her innovative programs is to encourage women of color to exercise more and not to skip the gym for many reasons fear included.

7. Dr. Regina Benjamin a featured Icon

Stakeholder’s Event to Announce Graphic Warning Labels by Unknown Arthur/Wikimedia Commons

Dr. Benjamin was not only recognized by leaders or organizations magazines and newspapers also made sure they recognized her as an icon. The Time magazine featured Benjamin as the “Nations 50 future leaders age 40 and under”. The New York Times article featured her as the “Angel in a white coat”. ABC world news voted for her as the “Person of the week” and people’s Magazine named her as the “Woman of the year”. In 2008 Benjamin was named one of America’s best leaders by U.S News and World report. She received the American Medical Association Foundation Leadership Award.

8. Dr. Benjamin’s criticism of abortion

Dr. Benjamin is a Roman Catholic and she offered political support for abortion access that cited a controversy, the catholic church strongly opposed abortion. Benjamin was active in her local church; she served on the board of trustees of the Catholic Health Association endorsed by Lloyd Dean the president. Regina was known for proper healthcare including obesity but people criticized her over her personal weight. The Blogs slammed her over her weight when she was receiving the MacArthur Genius award. Critics and supporters across the blogosphere commented on photos of Benjamin’s round cheeks, saying she sends the wrong message as the public face of America’s health initiatives. Dr. Benjamin faced a lot of barriers in her lifetime but she pulled strong and faced her challenges head on even when the hurricane destroyed her clinic, she picked up the pieces and rebuilt again.

9. Regina Marcia’s life mentor

We all have mentors in our lives people who help us get a hold of our lives or the ones we look up to well it was not different for Dr. Benjamin. Her grandmother was her mentor, she was strong-willed and very compassionate she died when she was nine years old. Her grandmother had helped to start a catholic church for the black community. Her grandmother lived on the U.S. highway during the depression she would leave sandwiches and lemonades outside for the blacks and whites who passed by. Benjamin’s mother kept their grandmother’s values to her children before she passed on from lung cancer.

10. Dr. Regina Marcia Benjamin’s Legacy

National Strategy for Suicide Prevention Press Event by Unknown Arthur/Wikimedia Commons

An all-time award winner an Icon in featured magazines and newspapers, and a strong-willed woman who never let any challenge put her down. Dr. Regina Benjamin is a legacy to many people young people, especially in the black community. Regina is known for her humanitarian work that she took to the next level, making sure that everyone got proper medical care whether they could afford it or not. Dr. Benjamin chose to serve the poor community she was humble, kind, and hardworking, and she gave Bayou La Batre clinic the dignity of humanity that it deserved.