CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Dr. John Hodgkin, medical director of Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program and Hospitalist Program at St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, was honored as a Physician of the Year at the Adventist Health Physician Leadership Symposium in October.

The honorees, selected by each hospital in the system, were chosen as exemplary health care providers because they embody the organization’s mission and focus on whole person care.

The award recognizes the compassionate work of those who distinguish themselves from the ordinary.

Dr. Hodgkin was chief of the Pulmonary/Critical Care Section in Loma Linda University School of Medicine and Medical Director of the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program at Loma Linda University Medical Center and Medical Director of Pulmonary Rehabilitation at the Loma Linda Medical Center.

In 1983 he moved to the Napa Valley where he practiced pulmonary and critical care medicine, and served as medical director of Respiratory Care and Pulmonary Rehabilitation at St. Helena Hospital. He spent 23 years as a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Davis from 1983 to 2006.

Dr. Hodgkin is known as one of the founders of pulmonary rehabilitation as well as a Founding Fellow and Past-President of the American Association for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, starting the pulmonary rehabilitation program at both St. Helena Clear Lake and Napa Valley.

Dr. Hodgkin has been published in over 200 books and journals on the subject of respiratory care, pulmonary rehabilitation and pulmonary medicine.

He is the lead editor of the foremost clinical textbook on pulmonary rehabilitation, “Pulmonary Rehabilitation: Guidelines to Success,” used by medical schools, physicians, nurses and allied health professionals.

Dr. Hodgkin is also a co-editor of the fourth edition of “Fundamentals of Heart and Lung Sounds,” published in 2012.

In 2007 he was awarded the Outstanding Clinician of the Year Award from the California Thoracic Society.

Dr. Hodgkin is a master diagnostician with the ability to synthesize patient’s information with wisdom and intuition. The combination has resulted in his creative and innovative approach to patient care. Dr. Hodgkin continues to touch many patient lives through his medical practice.