Benjamin and Sotomayor Set to Change the Landscape

by Chris Lombardi

Today, two 53-year-old women were front and center on the national stage: Judge Sonia Sotomayor, as Senate hearings on her nomination to the Supreme Court began, and a primary care physician from Louisiana named Regina Benjamin, who was appointed today to the long-vacant office of Surgeon General.

Dr. Benjamin, a member of the second class at Morehouse School of Medicine, received the prestigious Macarthur Foundation "genius grant" for her health center the Bayou Clinic. She has been variously called "an angel in a white coat" and "a healing force," so named by the Readers Digest for her work after Hurricane Katrina:

Read more about Dr. Regina Benjamin, and the latest news from Justice Sotomayor's confirmation hearing at Women's Voices For Change.