Apple Valley pediatrician Damodara Rajasekhar, M.D., has been named the 2018 recipient of the California Medical Association (CMA) Dev A. GnanaDev, M.D., Membership Award, which recognizes a special or unique effort toward membership recruitment. The award was announced today at CMA’s annual House of Delegates in Sacramento.

Dr. Rajasekhar this year played a major role in continuing CMA’s partnership with Loma Linda University Medical Center, leading to a membership renewal for 440 Loma Linda physicians.

“[Dr. Rajasekhar was] the vital spark that reignited the flame, creating an alliance between one of the largest and most well-respected statewide academic medical groups with the most dominant representation of organized medicine in California,” said Eric R. Hansen, DO, past-president of the San Bernardino County Medical Society (SBCMS), who nominated Dr. Rajasekhar for the award.

Dr. Rajasekhar is a solo pediatrician in Apple Valley, where he provides primary care for children of all ages, from infants to teenagers.  He also provides neonatal ICU care at Victor Valley Global Medical Center in Victorville. He has been a member of CMA and SBCMS for 19 years.

Dr. Rajasekhar received his medical degree from the University of Madras in India. After completing his residency in Pediatrics from the University of Connecticut Medical Center, he also completed a fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine from the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He is Board certified in both Pediatrics and Neonatal-Perinatal medicine. After completing his fellowship in Massachusetts, he worked in Kentucky for two years before starting a solo pediatric practice in California in 1996. 

Dr. Rajasekhar was sworn in as president of SBCMS in June, and he is currently a member of CMA Board of Trustees, representing the Organized Medical Staff Section (OMSS). Prior to that, was an OMSS board member for 10 years and served as the chair of OMSS. He is also currently the treasurer for CMA Political Action Committee (CALPAC). Dr. Rajasekhar was named “Fundraiser of the Year” by the CMA in 2017 after accomplishing the monumental feat of raising $100,000 for CALPAC—which allowed CMA to aggressively support the hospital medical staff at Tulare Regional Medical Center in its successful lawsuit against the hospital.