Marin County urologist and transplant surgeon Peter N. Bretan Jr., M.D., was presented with the Benjamin Rush Award for Citizenship and Community Service by the American Medical Association (AMA) during the 2014 AMA Interim Meeting in Dallas, Texas.

The award recognizes physicians who have gone above and beyond their professional call of duty to make an outstanding public service contribution. Dr. Bretan was chosen for his exceptional work as an innovator in renal transplant surgery and urology, and his disaster relief efforts around the globe to help save lives.

Dr. Bretan is the founder of Life Plant International, a charitable organization that promotes disaster preparedness, organ donation and early disease screening worldwide. He has also has also provided care around the world as a member of medical missions. Following the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans in 2005, Dr. Bretan provided free medical care as part of "Team Orleans." Since 2002, he has also made several medical mission trips to the Philippines to perform and teach local physicians about kidney transplantation and laparoscopic kidney removals. More recently, he served as part of a medical mission to the Philippines to provide care to victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

Dr. Bretan is a trustee for the California Medical Association (CMA) and past president of Marin Medical Society. He currently serves as an adjunct clinical professor of urology at Touro University, as well as chief of surgery at Novato Community Hospital, where he has worked since 2000. He is also member of the U.S. Surgeon General's Deployable Surgical Team and serves on county and state panels to educate physicians on disaster preparedness.

As an innovator in his field, Dr. Bretan has received national recognition and numerous awards for his work including the Disaster Service Medal and Outstanding Unit Award from the U.S. Surgeon General, and the 2011 Excellence in Service Award from the University of California, Berkeley Alumni Association.

Dr. Bretan earned his Bachelor of Science degree in physiology from University of California, Berkeley and his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco, where he completed residencies in general surgery and urology, as well as a fellowship in radiology. He also completed a fellowship at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in transplantation and renovascular surgery.