Family medicine physician Salvador Sandoval, M.D., MPH, has been announced as the 2025 recipient of the California Medical Association’s (CMA) Frederick K.M. Plessner Memorial Award. The award is presented annually to the California physician who best exemplifies the practice and ethics of a rural county practitioner. 

For more than 45 years, Dr. Sandoval has been a cornerstone of compassionate care in Merced, California and surrounding rural communities in the Central Valley. He is board-certified in Family Medicine and embodies the essence of a dedicated rural physician.

Dr. Sandoval’s interest in serving rural populations was formed by his early experiences working alongside farm workers and seeing firsthand their living conditions.  

“I worked in farm labor in the summers between junior high and high school, and I was interested in health care because of what I saw: people that were hardworking and also didn’t have very many services,” Dr. Sandoval said.  

His lifelong commitment to health equity and community further developed during medical school summers spent working at a migrant clinic in Yuba City. This early work led to scholarly research, including a thesis on cardiovascular disease risk factors in male farmworkers and a master's thesis comparing HIV risk factors in migrant versus settled farmworkers.

Throughout his career, Dr. Sandoval has been a tireless champion for the vulnerable, working on migrant and farmworker health, pesticide exposure prevention, opiate overdose prevention, and addressing the care needs of unhoused populations. He has been a pivotal figure in advancing pesticide protection for agricultural workers, and his work in overdose prevention has saved lives in a region hit hard by the opioid crisis.  

Beyond traditional clinical settings, Dr. Sandoval has served as the Medical Director for a local respite clinic, providing transitional care for discharged patients experiencing homelessness. To ensure access to care regardless of location or socioeconomic status, he operated Golden Valley's Medical Outreach Mobile (MOM) services, making vital house calls to hard-to-reach residents. He was recognized in 1992 as "Employee of the Year" by Merced Family Health Centers for his voluntary service, migrant health outreach, and free care to unhoused patients.

Perhaps his most defining recent service was his tenure as the Merced County Public Health Officer during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, he provided science-driven guidance, leveraging tools like wastewater surveillance to predict surges, which protected thousands in a vulnerable, resource-scarce region.

“Dr. Sandoval demonstrated calm, informed leadership during an extraordinarily challenging period,” said Yamilet Valladolid, Director of Government and Community at Golden Valley Health Centers. “His guidance and policies protected countless lives and reflected his lifelong commitment to health equity, public well-being, and science-based decision-making.”

Despite being semi-retired, Dr. Sandoval continues to serve as a revered preceptor in the Family Medicine Residency Program in Merced. Through this mentorship, he is actively instilling in future physicians the same commitment to social justice, ethics, compassion, and understanding of rural health challenges that have defined his admirable career.

“Dr. Sandoval’s legacy is etched into the very fabric of rural health care in the Central Valley,” said Merced County Department of Public Health Director Kristynn Sullivan. “Titles or accolades do not define his career, but by the thousands of lives he has touched and the countless systems he has helped shape to be more equitable, compassionate, and effective. He has delivered care under bridges, on farms, in shelters, and clinics – always with humility, integrity, and a deep belief in human dignity.” 

Learn more about Dr. Sandoval in CMA’s video profile.