Regina M. Benjamin, the NOLA.com/Times Picayune Endowed Chair in Public Health Sciences at Xavier University in New Orleans, has been selected to receive the 2013 Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism from the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. The award is given to individuals “whose life example has significantly mitigated the social determinants of health in the U.S. and/or abroad and whose commitment to service influences and inspires others.” Dr. Benjamin, who served as Surgeon General of the United States from 2009 to 2013, will receive the award at the Fellowship’s annual conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in November.
Dr. Benjamin is a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana and earned her medical degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.