Former Surgeon General Regina Benjamin has a new gig. The nation’s head doctor is on her way to Xavier University to continue her mission to improve public health.
“As you know I’m a longtime champion of the power of prevention and it was the foundation of my work as Surgeon General,” Benjamin told The Tom Joyner Morning Show. “I want to continue and further that mission. As I often say I’ve stepped away from the position of Surgeon General but not the mission.
To continue that mission, I’ve accepted the endowed chair at Xavier University. It’s the NOLA.com/Times Picayune chair for Public Health Sciences. This endowed chair will allow me to help form and shape the future of public health care professionals.
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Since I was there 30 years ago, Xavier has been renowned for getting the most African-Americans into medical school and graduating from medical school and helping other health professionals such as physics and biologist get Ph.D’s around the nations. So I’m really excited about working with young people. And it’s also going to allow me to promote public health around the country and internationally as well.”
While serving as Surgeon General from 2009 to this year, Benjamin was able to accomplish the following:
She helped spearhead a public health prevention strategy, something she said had been necessary for the past century. The National Prevention Council, drawn from Cabinet heads including Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency, helps provide direction to assist in preventative health measures.
Helped put together the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, an aggressive campaign to prevent suicide among all age groups.
Released My Family Health Portrait, which encourages families to go online to share family health histories during family gatherings.
Benjamin stepped down as Surgeon General in June. At that time, she issued an email to her staff that read in part:
“My goal was to create a grassroots movement, to change our health care system from one focused on sickness and disease to a system focused on wellness and prevention. With your help, that movement has begun,” Benjamin wrote.
Regina Benjamin, Nation’s Top Doc, Heads to Xavier
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