Senate confirms U.S. surgeon general

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate Thursday confirmed Dr. Regina Benjamin, the founder of an Alabama health clinic for poor people, as U.S. surgeon general.

Benjamin, 53, was approved on a voice vote, The New York Times reported.

She gained national attention through her efforts to rebuild her Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic after devastation wrought by Hurricane George in 1998, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and a fire in 2006.

Benjamin was the first black woman to lead the Alabama Medical Association and was associate dean for rural health at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. She received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" last year and in 1998 she was the U.S. recipient of the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights.

"For nearly two decades Dr. Regina Benjamin has seen in a personal way what is broken in our healthcare system," President Barack Obama said when he nominated her in July.

The president called her someone "who would do anything to heal America's citizens."

"My hope is to be America's doctor," Benjamin said at the time.

"I'm excited, looking forward to it, sad that I won't be able to continue to see my patients," she told the Mobile Press-Register said after her confirmation Thursday.