CMA Foundation - About the CMA Foundation

To fulfill our mission, the CMA Foundation acts as a bridge linking physicians to their communities. We work in collaboration with all of our many partners to achieve significant improvement in key health issues. We receive funding for our projects through physician, corporate, and foundation support.

The CMA Foundation primarily began in 1963 as a charitable arm of the California Medical Association, disbursing over $1 million dollars in grants and loans to medical students. The CMA, while supporting the interests of California's physicians, realized that it was important to help along future physicians during their educational years, and so remained as a source of resources for medical students until 1995, when Dr. Rolland C. Lowe, M.D., CMAF Board Chair, recommended that the Foundation expand its role to encompass community health.

New projects began in 1996 and 1997, such as ComPACT (tobacco education) and the Physician Leadership Recognition Dinner. These programs established our position in the community as leaders of public health initiatives. The Pharmacy Partnership Project, begun in 1996, gathered pharmacists from across California working in independent pharmacies to remove tobacco products from their stores. We realized a nearly 80% success rate (currently 78% of independent pharmacies in California are tobacco free). In July 2000, the Partnership changed its name to Prescription for Change to encourage chain pharmacies to go tobacco free as well. Overall, the mission of this project is to facilitate public education campaigns, advertisements, and media coverage that focus on increasing consumer awareness about pharmacies selling tobacco.

Beginning in 2000, the CMA Foundation initiated its community involvement by launching the AWARE Project (Alliance Working for Antibiotic Resistance Education), a nationally recognized project. In addition, there are many other health projects, public outreach programs, and physician conferences that point to CMA Foundation's commitment to improving the health of California's residents.