Dr. Lee Ralph, MD, who practices at our Alvarado and Sorrento Valley offices, has been named as the 2019 Family Physician of the Year by the California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP)! He is honored to have been selected from among the nearly 11,000 members of the CAFP, in recognition of his excellence in the practice of medicine and patient care; his leadership roles in training the next generations of family physicians; and his community service.
CAFP’s Family Physician of the Year honor is awarded annually to a family physician who embodies the finest characteristics of physicians in the family medicine specialty and is involved in activities that enhance the quality of life in local communities.
Dr. Ralph, board certified in both family medicine and sports medicine, provides medical care and is a managing partner and chief financial officer at San Diego Sports Medicine & Family Health Center, across its three clinics with 20 physicians and 150 employees. He also trains family physicians of the future as a volunteer assistant clinical professor at the University of California (UCSD) School of Medicine in La Jolla and at Western University of Health Sciences/College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific in Pomona. In addition, he has long mentored UCSD medical students.
As a past CAFP president and a member of the CAFP Board of Directors, he provides leadership, legislative advocacy and physician education statewide. “Dr. Ralph is recognized by colleagues and patients as a compassionate physician who delivers state-of-the-art medical care,” said CAFP President Walter Mills, MD. “He serves as an inspiration to longtime physician colleagues as well as to younger physicians he trains and mentors.”
Locally Dr. Ralph has volunteered as team physician for The Bishop’s School in La Jolla since 2003 and at numerous other local sporting events.
He joined San Diego Sports Medicine & Family Health Center in 1997 after serving as a family physician at the UCSD Department of Family Medicine and Public Health. He graduated from Amherst College and the University of Virginia School of Medicine before completing his residency and fellowship training at UCSD. He is a past president and a member of the board of directors of the California Academy of Family Physicians and a past president of the San Diego Academy of Family Physicians. For the past 13 years, Dr. Ralph has been voted one of San Diego’s “Top Doctors” in family medicine and sports medicine by his peers through the San Diego County Medical Society and San Diego Magazine.
About the California Academy of Family Physicians: With nearly 11,000 members, including active practicing family physicians, residents in family medicine, and medical students interested in the specialty, CAFP is the largest primary care medical society in California. Family physicians receive specialized training in primary care to treat patients from birth to end-of-life and are trained to treat a broad spectrum of medical challenges. They serve a broad base of patients in urban, suburban and rural areas, often in California’s most underserved areas.
