Atlanta — Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) alumna and trustee Regina Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A., has been elected to the board of trustees of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Benjamin, an internationally recognized health-care expert, joins the existing RWJF board totaling 17 board members.

Benjamin is a 1982 graduate of the MSM two-year program and is founder and CEO of Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Alabama. For more than 18 years, she has been the sole family physician in Bayou La Batre, an impoverished Gulf Coast town of 2,500 residents. The clinic provides general medical care and hospitalization to a largely uninsured population, and its effective operation and quality health care has become a business model for rural physicians throughout the country. Benjamin is former associate dean for Rural Health at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine.

Benjamin is a member of the Institute of Medicine of The National Academies and serves on several boards, including MSM, the American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, Federation of State Medical Boards, and Catholic Health Association. She is on the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and recently rotated off the National Advisory Committees of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the NIH National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities. Benjamin has also served on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation national advisory committees for Rx for Health and the Southern Rural Access Program.

"I look forward to bringing my practical experience, business expertise and concern for others to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It is an organization I have long admired, and I am proud to be a part of accomplishing significant and lasting social change," said Benjamin.

"Regina Benjamin's values, experience, and commitment have been to serve the underserved all of her life. She brings a remarkable personal and professional portfolio to her new role as a board member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Morehouse School of Medicine is proud of her many accomplishments and pleased that Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has chosen her as one of its newest board members," said MSM Director of Alumni Relations Carrie Dumas.

"We are pleased to have Regina Benjamin add her formidable talents and experience to our efforts," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., RWJF president and CEO. "Dr. Benjamin's experience working directly with underserved populations combined with her knowledge and understanding of the need to drive system-wide change, make her a valuable addition to our board. We are fortunate to have her insight and expertise as we work to address the pressing health care issues facing our country, and design approaches that have measurable impact and create meaningful and timely change."

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) focuses on the pressing health and health-care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change in America's health. For 35 years, the Foundation has demonstrated deep commitment and a rigorous, balanced approach to addressing the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves.