WASHINGTON: Benjamin unanimously confirmed as Surgeon General

The Senate has unanimously confirmed Regina Benjamin, MD, as the U.S. surgeon general. Benjamin, 53, a family physician from Bayou La Batre, AL, gained national attention after Hurricane Katrina for her monumental efforts to reopen her rural health clinic. Benjamin was also the first African-American woman to head a state medical society. She has received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights, and last year received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant."