San Diego family medicine physician David Bazzo, M.D., has been awarded the 2019 California Medical Association (CMA) Gary S. Nye Award for Physician Health and Well-Being. This annual award honors a CMA member who has made significant contributions toward improving physician health and wellness. The award was presented on Sunday at CMA’s annual House of Delegates meeting in Anaheim.

Dr. Bazzo is honored with this award for his commitment to the Physician Assessment and Clinical Education (PACE) program at the University of California, San Diego. Since 1996, the PACE program has promoted a culture of ongoing quality improvement and professional development in the medical field. The mission of the PACE program is to better the quality of health care throughout the nation by offering assessment and remediation services to medical professionals. This nationally recognized program is a model for how practicing physicians can get assessment, education and assistance.

For the last 20 years, Dr. Bazzo has helped physicians who enter the PACE program. Through his involvement with organized medicine, he has worked to study risk factors and develop interventions to benefit physicians and help them overcome burnout and remediation. As it currently exists, the PACE Program intervenes at the end of a physician’s disciplinary process, but Dr. Bazzo understands that interventions earlier in the process might help prevent remediation and burnout in the first place and is actively developing ways to promote early intervention practices.

In addition to his commitment to physician wellness, Dr. Bazzo is well decorated and recognized for his commitment to the San Diego community. Dr. Bazzo is the immediate past-president of the San Diego County Medical Society (SDCMS), he was president of the San Diego Academy of Family Physicians (2005) and currently serves as president-elect of the California Academy of Family Physicians. He serves as Head Team Physician for the San Diego Seals (professional indoor lacrosse) and is team physician or consulting physician for numerous other sports teams in the San Diego area including professional level teams like the San Diego Chargers and the San Diego Sockers (professional indoor soccer) and other Olympic, collegiate, and high school level teams. His peers voted him one of San Diego’s “Top Doctors” for the last 14 years in family medicine and/or sports medicine.

Dr. Bazzo has been a member of the California Medical Association since 1990. He has served on CMA’s Council for Ethical, Legal and Judicial Affairs and serves on CMA’s House of Delegates representing District 1.