Urologist and kidney transplant surgeon Peter N. Bretan, Jr., M.D., was elected by the California Medical Association (CMA) House of Delegates as the association’s new president elect. He will take office at the close of this year’s meeting and will serve as on the CMA Executive Committee as president-elect for one year. Dr. Breton will be installed as president following next year’s House of Delegates. He will be the first Filipino-American physician to serve as CMA president.

Dr. Bretan practices in Marin, Sonoma and Santa Cruz Counties. He has served as a CMA Trustee and delegate, and is a three-time county medical society president. He is the current President of the California Urological Association and serves as an adjunct clinical professor at Touro University, where he has taught classes in health care policy for the past 15 years.

Dr. Bretan is the founder and CEO of Life Plant International, a charitable organization that promotes disaster preparedness, organ donation and early disease screening worldwide. He has also provided care around the world on medical missions.

"My greatest motivation is in service to give back to society for my good fortune. I grew up as a child farm laborer, and I know what it is to be without adequate health care,” said Dr. Bretan.  

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.

The full 2018-2019 CMA Executive Committee includes:

• President: David H. Aizuss, M.D., Los Angeles
• President-Elect: Peter N. Bretan, Jr., M.D., Watsonville
• Chair of the Board: Robert E. Wailes, M.D., Oceanside/Encinitas
• Vice-Chair of the Board: Shannon L. Udovic-Constant, M.D., San Francisco
• Speaker of the House: Lee T. Snook, Jr., M.D., Sacramento
• Vice-Speaker of the House: Tanya W. Spirtos, M.D., Redwood City
• President: Theodore M. Mazer, M.D., San Diego