Regina Benjamin's most recent achievement is being named U.S. surgeon general in 2009. But in 2008 the MacArthur Foundation honored her for founding the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Care Clinic in Alabama. The clinic is the major source of health care for the impoverished village on the state's Gulf Coast. Benjamin rebuilt the clinic three times: after Hurricanes George and Katrina, and once again after a fire. She has an M.D. from the University of Alabama and an M.B.A. from Tulane University.