Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - July 15, 2009
Dr. Benjamin practices family medicine in a poor shrimp-fishing village on the coast of Alabama. She founded a clinic to serve a community of poor whites, blacks and Asians. She has rebuilt it three times (after two hurricanes and a fire) by mortgaging her house, digging into savings and raising donations.
She frequently pays for medicines out of her own pocket and is only sporadically paid by the financially shaky clinic, which currently owes her more than $300,000. Last year, the MacArthur Foundation honored her with one of its "genius" awards for her "compassionate and effective medical care." President Obama was right to extol her as representing "what's best about health care in America: doctors and nurses who give and care and sacrifice for the sake of their patients."
Dr. Benjamin in 1995 became the youngest doctor, and first black woman, elected to the American Medical Association's board of trustees, and she served in 2002 and 2003 as president of the state medical society in Alabama. She is little known in Washington, however, and will have to work to master the capital's ways.
Despite its high-sounding title, the surgeon general is actually a mid-level federal health official whose primary powers are hortatory and educational. Some past surgeons general have reshaped thinking about the dangers of smoking and the urgency to combat AIDS, but many have disappeared into the bureaucracy.
Dr. Benjamin has said that she wants to act as a voice for patients and make sure that no one falls through the cracks as health care reform proceeds. And she has said she wants to focus on preventing disease, a crucial component of health care reform. To do all that, the soft-spoken, unassuming family doctor will also have to master the bully pulpit. But judging from her history, we are betting on her.
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