Navy vet built legacy of charitable care

In his 14 years running the San Diego County Medical Society, Tom Gehring has managed to grow the number of local doctors on the nonprofit organization’s membership roster. But it is what he has done with that manifest of MDs that will likely have the most lasting effect.

On his watch, the society created its own charitable foundation in 2004 which in turn built Project Access San Diego, the framework that helps local physicians, hospitals, outpatient surgical centers and ancillary service providers donate their work to needy, and often uninsured, patients across the region.

This, said Dr. James Hay, the former society president who hired Gehring in 2001, has been the crowning achievement of this career Navy submarine officer turned leader of doctors.

“Tom found a financial pathway to create the foundation, and I would say that Project Access has been a signature achievement of the society,” Hay said.

Project access has served more than 3,000 local patients, offering them everything from primary care visits to complex surgery free of charge. Gehring is not shy about sharing his pride in what these doctors have done.