Distinguished Achievement Award 2012: Thomas Nesbitt ’75, M.D. ’79

Thomas Nesbitt is a national leader in using telecommunications technology to bring expert medical care to patients in rural areas. After attending UC Davis, he worked as a primary-care physician in the rural Northwest where he was inspired to establish a telefetal monitoring link between UC Davis Medical Center and a small community hospital nearly two hours away.

He joined the School of Medicine faculty in 1988 and is founding director of the UC Davis Center for Health and Technology, where he oversees the university’s telehealth, distance-learning and medical informatics programs.

Under his direction, UC Davis has developed one of the nation’s leading telehealth programs, providing specialized medical care and health education to communities throughout Northern California.

Three years ago, Nesbitt helped to establish UC Davis’ Rural-PRIME (Programs in Medical Education), which aims to attract and train medical students interested in establishing practices in rural areas.