Regina Benjamin
Regina Marcia Benjamin (born October 26, 1956) is an American physician and a former vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who served as the 18th Surgeon General of the United States.[1] Benjamin previously directed a nonprofit primary care medical clinic in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, and served on the board of trustees for the Morehouse School of Medicine. In 1995, she was elected to the board of trustees of the American Medical Association, making her both the first physician under age 40 and the first African-American woman to be elected.
Quotes
[edit]- It feels good when you help someone, when you make them smile, when you make a difference in their lives, when you stop the hurt. And you sleep well at night. To me, that’s the best reward. If I had to go purchase that through a mail-order catalogue or something, that’s what I’d buy.
During an interview touting her selection as a “Person of the Week” by ABC News
- When you’re face-to-face with a patient, you can’t worry about the fact that they can’t pay.
- My family is not here with me today, at least not in person, because of preventable diseases. While I can’t change my family’s past, I can be a voice in the movement to improve our nation’s health care and our nation’s health for the future.
Regina Marcia Benjamin- Speaking about losing her father, mother and only sibling to illnesses
- I hope I make a difference one person at a time. By making a patient feel better, by being able to tell a mother that her baby is going to be okay. Whether her baby is 4 or 44, the look on the mother’s face is the same.
- Prevention is at the foundation of everything. We've got to prevent people from getting sick in the first place
- doing it from the grassroots. A good health care system depends on the health of the community, which ultimately lies with the health of the individual
