MEDIA ADVISORY
June 8, 2004

UCSF FRESNO TO GRADUATE CLASS OF 2004 THIS THURSDAY

FRESNO - The University of California San Francisco, Fresno Medical Education Program (UCSF Fresno MEP) will graduate more than 60 physicians in a ceremony to be held Thursday, June 10, beginning at 6:30 p.m., at Copper River County Club (11500 North Friant Road) in Fresno.

According to the Central Valley Health Policy Institute, the San Joaquin Valley has a physician to population ratio that is 24 percent less than the California average.

Many of the doctors graduating from UCSF Fresno will remain in the Fresno vicinity and Valley to care for community members.

Among them:

• Two of the eight graduating pediatricians plan to open private practices in Fresno.
• Another nine physicians will remain with UCSF Fresno as faculty members or chief residents.
• Peter Nassar, MD, will join his father Theodore Nassar, MD, in private practice in Madera.
• Downing Moua, DMD, will open a private practice in Merced.

 Graduation highlights include:

• Graduation address by Joan Voris, MD, associate dean, UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program
• Presentation of the prestigious Kaiser Award for Excellence in Teaching. Of the four Kaiser awards presented by the UCSF School of Medicine, one is given to an outstanding faculty member in the Fresno program. 
• Other awards include: Outstanding First-Year Resident, Outstanding Resident Teacher, Outstanding Attending Teacher, Outstanding Non-Physician Teacher, Borba Awards for Outstanding Research, and Robert S. Peters Award for Research. 

UCSF Fresno plays a substantial role in providing health care services to San Joaquin Valley residents and training medical professionals in the region. UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program has trained one-third of Valley physicians currently practicing in one of the seven specialties in which UCSF Fresno provides training. Since its inception in 1974, UCSF Fresno has graduated approximately 60 physicians every year, totaling more than 2,000 to date.

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