During her four years as America's doctor, the 18th surgeon general of the U.S. made it her mission to stress chronic-disease prevention. So it was no surprise during Dr. Regina Benjamin's marquee performance at Modern Healthcare's Sept. 9 gala honoring the 50 Most Influential Physician Executives in Healthcare that she included an injunction to get up and dance (to shake off a few of the extra calories to be consumed during a mouth-watering surf-and-turf dinner).
But to what song? Alas, no music was immediately available in the Chicago Club's august dining room, so the physician from Bayou La Batre, Ala., began swaying as she hummed the Temptations' “My Girl.” Two steps left. Two steps right. Not difficult, right? Outliers subsequently learned that Modern Healthcare Editor Merrill Goozner, who had introduced Benjamin as No. 12 on the Most Influential list, quietly admitted to the former surgeon general that he had first danced to that 1965 Motown smash when he was a teenager. So why did it take 32 bars before he was in sync with the music?
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