On Saturday, October 24, 2020, San Diego physician Robert E. Wailes, M.D., was named president-elect of the California Medical Association (CMA) at the association’s annual House of Delegates (HOD). This year’s meeting was conducted virtually, due to the ongoing public health emergency.

Dr. Wailes will serve as president-elect for one year, and will be installed as president at next year’s HOD.

In his address to the delegates, Dr. Wailes urged his fellow physicians to work together in a non-partisan way to advance the priorities of the house of medicine.

“We know we have the MICRA battle coming up in 2022, my presidential year. It will be critically important for us to put forward a united front to combat this proposition, which will basically eliminate all the elements of MICRA,” said Dr. Wailes. “Let’s work together. Let’s work in cooperation and collaboration, in a non-partisan way to move forward and promote the causes of the CMA with a united front. Let’s move forward together.”

Dr. Wailes—a Southern California pain specialist and board-certified anesthesiologist—has served as chair of the CMA Board of Trustees for the past three years, serving as vice chair for three years before that. He has also served as president of the San Diego County Medical Society and represents the American Academy of Pain Medicine at the American Medical Association.

Dr. Wailes is the founder, co-owner and medical director of Pacific Pain Medicine Group in Oceanside and Encinitas. He is also an active member of the medical staffs at Scripps Hospital in Encinitas and Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside and serves as medical director for the Ketamine Research Institute.

Dr. Wailes earned his M.D. from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina and holds a bachelor’s degree in public finance and pre-medical sciences from UC Berkeley. He completed an internship at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in San Diego in 1982 and his residency at UCSD Medical Center in 1984.

Dr. Wailes has been providing pain medicine services in Southern California for the past 30 years, and has lived with his family in Carlsbad since starting his practice in 1984.