We are accepting applications for the 2023 Catholic Doctor of the Year!
To submit the name of a qualified doctor(s) for consideration fill out an application form online or download and complete an application and send it to Mission Doctors. All forms are due by July 15, 2023, by mail or fax.
Today, Catholic doctors face many challenges as they strive to meet the needs of their patients in the context of their own faith and calling. Many go well beyond the role and responsibilities of their profession, offering care that truly reflects the love of God. For some this is obvious in their own practice, for others this takes the form of volunteering in their community or mission work that may be domestic or international. Their exemplary actions bear witness to the highest values of the Catholic doctor.
The annual award is given in recognition of the efforts of a doctor who has responded to Christ’s call to “Heal the Sick” as a member of our Catholic faith community and in doing so has made a World of Difference.
The award will be presented at the annual Archdiocese of Los Angeles Annual Mass Celebrating Catholic Healthcare Professionals.
Mission Doctors Association has chosen Dr. David Gaus as the Catholic Doctor of the year for 2022
Nominated by Mission Doctor, Peter Meade, Dr. David Gaus is the founder and CEO of Andean Health and Development (AHD). AHD is an organization dedicated to providing quality, sustainable medical services in rural Ecuador while training Ecuadorian family physicians to become the healthcare leaders of tomorrow.
Dr. Gaus grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and attended Notre Dame where he received an accounting degree in 1984. After a soul-searching conversation with then University President, Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, David traveled to Ecuador where he spent two years volunteering at an orphanage. There he witnessed the marginalization of a population who lacked access to even basic health services. He returned to the U.S. where, with the assistance of Fr. Hesburgh and the famous columnist Ann Landers, David re-enrolled at Notre Dame to complete his pre-med studies and then enrolled in Tulane Medical School.
In 1992, David earned his M.D. and Master’s in Public Health & Tropical Medicine from Tulane. Following a residency at the University of Wisconsin, he returned to Ecuador and soon discovered that rural hospital care was the country’s greatest need. In 1996, David and Fr. Hesburgh started AHD to provide self-sustaining, comprehensive health care to the rural poor. AHD trains 15 Ecuadorian family physicians annually. Gaus and his team are also involved in research, the writing of medical manuals, and the creation of the online journal, Practica Familiar Rural.
To read the press release about Dr. Gaus and this award click here.
To read more about past honorees click here: the list of all previous awardees here
