Darryl Hunter, a radiation oncologist for Kaiser Permanente who works closely on community projects with UC Davis Health System, has been selected to receive the Robert D. Sparks, MD Leadership Achievement Award from the California Medical Association Foundation.
The CMA Foundation will present the award to Hunter at its 15th Annual President’s Reception and Awards Crystal Gala on Sunday, Oct. 16, in Anaheim, Calif. The award is intended to honor an individual or group that has shown outstanding concern for the health of communities and demonstrates efforts consistent with the CMA Foundation.
Hunter, who works at Kaiser Permanente’s Roseville Medical Center, provides support to the free community clinics operated by UC Davis medical students. He serves as volunteer faculty advisor for the community clinics participating in the Susan G. Komen grantee program at UC Davis. He also is a managing partner of the Sacramento Community Cancer Coalition (SCCC), for which Claire Pomeroy, CEO of UC Davis Health System and dean of the UC Davis medical school, serves as an honorary board member.
In his role with the SCCC, Hunter assists the community clinics that have joined the partnership by making sure the clinics’ efforts reach the appropriate age and risk groups for breast cancer. One of the community clinics, the Willow Clinic, is a partner of the Sacramento Community Veterans Alliance, for which Hunter serves as director. The Willow Clinic and the alliance host two annual health fairs for homeless veterans. The health fairs, held on Veterans Day and Memorial Day, provide free vision examinations and prescription eyewear, food, and hygiene kits. The fairs also include screenings for conditions connected to Agent Orange, such as prostate cancer.
For the past two years, Hunter has served as faculty advisor for the UC Davis Minority Association of Pre-medical Students (M.A.P.S.). M.A.P.S. students have volunteered at SCCC health fairs and helped collect demographic data from those who have received care at these events, as part of an SCCC research study. Hunter co-chairs the Annual Sacramento Cancer Disparities Symposium held at the UC Davis Cancer Center. Along with Marlene von Friedrichs-Fitzwater, director of the Outreach Research and Education Program at the cancer center, Hunter founded the symposium in 2010 as the only academic symposium in Northern California focusing on cancer disparities in underserved populations.
In November 2010, Hunter began serving on the Advisory Board for the Black Physicians Forum which took place on February 4, 2011 at the Sierra Health Foundation. >>read more
Source: Office of Student and Resident Diversity at UC Davis School of Medicine
