Dr. Sudeep Kukreja, associate medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit at CHOC Hospital and medical director of the hospital’s newborn hearing screening program, has received the Dev. A. GnanaDev Membership Award from the California Medical Association (CMA). The award is given to the CMA physician member residing and practicing in California who during the past year significantly increased members in his area.
Through Dr. Kukreja’s advocacy, Orange County Medical Association’s (OCMA) membership has grown by close to 300 members.
“I feel good that more physicians are learning about the great work that OCMA does and are becoming members,” Dr. Kukreja said. “That really means a lot to me.”
As past president of OCMA and member of CMA’s Legislative Committee, Dr. Kukreja goes to Sacramento a few times a year to provide education and seek reform on current issues affecting the medical profession and health care delivery. He is also a CMA delegate.
Among his efforts, Dr. Kukreja is lobbying in support of proposition 56, which would increase taxes on cigarettes and in turn, fund health care and dental disease prevention programs for underinsured patients, including Medi-Cal. Funds would also support research for smoking-related diseases, among other initiatives.
Dr. Kukreja has been recognized by the CMA in the past for his extensive volunteer work. Through his nonprofit volunteer medical organization, Arpan Global Charities, Dr. Kukreja and other medical professionals have provided free health care and supplies to countless underserved areas around the world. He and his team of volunteers plan to go on their next medical mission to Colombia, in February. Locally, he participates in many charitable clinics and health fairs.
Dedicated to clinical excellence, Dr. Kukreja is the director of quality improvement in the NICU at CHOC, and is board certified in neonatal-perinatal medicine. He served his fellowship and residency at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange and at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, respectively. He completed his internship and medical training at King George’s Medical College in Lucknow, India.
Dr. Kukreja will be formally recognized on October 16 at the 145th CMA Annual House of Delegates in Sacramento.
