Oral history interview with Regina M. Benjamin, 2022
Abstract
Regina Benjamin reflects on her career in public health and discusses her work in the Obama administration, in which she served as surgeon general of the United States from 2009 to 2013. She recounts her upbringing and development as a family doctor, and describes the operation and resilience of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic, which she founded in 1990 in southern Alabama. Benjamin focuses on her efforts to center prevention in national healthcare policy, and she provides details about the structure and work of the National Prevention Council, which was created by the Affordable Care Act; outreach and public information campaigns to promote healthy lifestyles and discourage tobacco use by youth and young adults; and the development, composition, and uses of surgeon general's reports on major public health issues including obesity, breastfeeding, tobacco use, and suicide prevention. Benjamin also describes the relationships between the Office of the Surgeon General, federal agencies and scientific institutions, and the East Wing of the Obama White House, and she outlines the role of the United States Public Health Service in disaster response efforts. Also discussed are Benjamin's role in the administration's response to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the role of outside advocacy organizations in the development of surgeon general's reports, the relationship of the Office of the Surgeon General to legislative processes, and Benjamin's experiences in professional medical organizations
Presidents--United States; Public health--United States; Medical care--Government policy--United States; Youth--Tobacco use--United States; Obesity--United States; Breastfeeding--United States; Suicide--Prevention--United States; BP Deepwater Horizon Explosion and Oil Spill, 2010; Benjamin, Regina; Obama, Barack; National Prevention Council (U.S.); United States; United States. Public Health Service; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2022
Physical Description
60 pages
Note (Biographical)
Regina Benjamin is an American physician and public health official. In the Obama administration, Benjamin served as the surgeon general of the United States from 2009 to 2013, and as chair of the National Prevention Council, which was created by the Affordable Care Act. Before becoming surgeon general, in 1990 Benjamin founded the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in southern Mobile County, Alabama, which she kept in operation despite the damage caused by Hurricanes Georges and Katrina and by a fire at the clinic in 2006. She has served on the boards of many professional associations, and in 1995 became the first physician under age forty, and the first African American woman, to be elected to the board of the American Medical Association. In 2002 she became president of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, which made her the first African American woman to serve as president of a state medical society. Benjamin received multiple awards for her work, including the Nelson Mandela Award for health and human rights, the National Caring Award, and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
Note
Interviewed by Coleman Sherry on November 21, 2022. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Regina M. Benjamin, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023