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• Remarks By The President In Announcement Of US Surgeon General 

With that, let me introduce the next Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Regina Benjamin.

DR. BENJAMIN: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Secretary Sebelius, for being here with me.

I am honored and I am humbled to be nominated to serve as United States Surgeon General. This is a physician's dream. But for me, it's more than just a job.

Public health issues are very personal to me. My father died with diabetes and hypertension. My older brother, and only sibling, died at age 44 of HIV-related illness. My mother died of lung cancer, because as a young girl, she wanted to smoke just like her twin brother could. My Uncle Buddy, my mother's twin, who's one of the few surviving black World War II prisoners of war, is at home right now, on oxygen, struggling for each breath because of the years of smoking.

My family is not here with me today, at least not in person, because of preventable diseases. While I can't -- or I cannot 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.

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My mother died of lung cancer, because as a young girl, she wanted to smoke just like her twin brother could. My Uncle Buddy, my mother's twin, who's one of the few surviving black World War II prisoners of war, is at home right now, on oxygen, struggling for each breath because of the years of smoking. My family is not here with me today, at least not in person, because of preventable diseases. While I can't -- or I cannot 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.
President Obama's nominee for Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Regina Benjamin, in the Rose Garden.