4 years ago 
 
 (CNN) - President Barack Obama will nominate Doctors for America co-founder Dr. Vivek Hallegere Murthy as the next U.S. Surgeon General, the White House announced Thursday. 
 
 Murthy will replace Regina Benjamin, who was appointed by Obama in 2009 and left her post last summer. 
 
 
 
 Murthy is also Hospitalist Attending Physician and Instructor in Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard Medical School. 
 
 He received a B.A. from Harvard, an M.B.A. from Yale School of Management, and an M.D. from Yale School of Medicine. 
 
 Doctors for America says it works in part to ensure that people have access to affordable, high quality health care. 
 
 The Surgeon General post focuses heavily on public health and requires Senate confirmation. 

 Vivek Hallegere Murthy would succeed Regina Benjamin. | REUTERS Obama taps surgeon general 
 
 The White House said Thursday that President Barack Obama intends to nominate Vivek Hallegere Murthy to be the next surgeon general. 
 
 He is the co-founder and president of Doctors for America, which began as Doctors for Obama in 2008. He is a hospitalist attending physician and instructor in medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School. 
 
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 He would succeed Regina Benjamin, who announced her resignation from the post in July.
– President Obama has picked an ally in his bid to reform health care to be the next surgeon general. He plans to nominate Vivek Hallegere Murthy, an attending physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School, to replace Regina Benjamin, reports CNN. Murthy is the co-founder and current president of Doctors for America, which bills itself as an advocacy group for affordable health care, reports Politico. But it's the group's previous name that is likely to get the attention of GOP senators during the confirmation process: Doctors for Obama. (It campaigned for him before changing names in 2009.) Meanwhile, click to read about the president's fix for people whose policies got canceled under ObamaCare.