WASHINGTON (October 30, 2009)--The U.S. Senate has confirmed Dr. Regina Benjamin to be the U.S. surgeon general, elevating a well-known Alabama family physician to be the nation's top doctor.

Benjamin, 53, was approved by voice vote.

She was the first black woman to head a state medical society, received the Nelson
Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights and just last fall received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant,” but she made headlines in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, with her determination to rebuild her rural health clinic, which serves 4,400 patients who would be hard-pressed to find care elsewhere.