The Distinguished Alumna/us Award, established in 1988 was created to give annual recognition to an alumna/us of the UC Davis School of Medicine or the UC Davis Medical Center, for contributions to society and for outstanding achievement in medicine.

Robert Wiebe has dedicated his career in medicine to public service, working for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He effectively draws from his varied educational backgrounds to meet the complex challenges associated with our nation's largest public health-care system.

Dr. Wiebe is currently Director of the VA Sierra Pacific Network-an integrated health care system of 36 medical centers, clinics and extended-care facilities located in California, Nevada, Hawaii and the Philippines. He is responsible for managing an annual budget of more than $1 billion and a workforce of 7,000 dedicated employees. Dr. Wiebe has helped to make the Network a national leader in VA for clinical care, academic programs and business services. He is at the forefront of developing national policy for VA in the areas of performance management, resource allocation and business processes.

Dr. Wiebe credits his success with his experience at UC Davis and other major universities, "As a resident and fellow at the medical center, I was surrounded by amazing housestaff like Brian O'Neill and Warren Lockette, and blessed with incredible mentors such as Faith Fitzgerald and Robert Bolt." Dr. Wiebe also notes that the Network excels because of its affiliations with five major medical schools. He is proud that the Network has one of the largest research programs in VA and offers a premiere teaching environment for students and trainees.

Dr. Wiebe is a graduate of the Internal Medicine (1984) and Occupational and Environmental Health (1986) programs at the medical center. He also attained an M.P.H. from UC Berkeley School of Public Health and an M.B.A. from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He lives in Davis with his wife, Joni and their daughter Claire.