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Tracy Wahl/NPR

Benjamin in September 2005, with then-10-year-old Jamis Shultz in Bayou la Batre, Ala.

Dr. Regina Benjamin of Bayou la Batre, Ala., who All Things Considered listeners will remember for the compelling stories of her work to rebuild a clinic for the poor that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and then again by a fire in 2006, has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the next surgeon general, the Associated Press and Washington Post report.

Update at 11:52 a.m. ET: Obama is now speaking to reporters in the Rose Garden of the White House, with Benjamin and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at his side. He just called Benjamin "America's next surgeon general."

Update at 12:01 p.m. ET: Lauding the doctor for her work, especially in keeping her clinic running, Obama just said that "for nearly two decades, Regina Benjamin has seen in an increasingly person way what is broken about our health care system."

Benjamin just called the job "a physician's dream" and said she is honored and humbled to have been chosen.