Austin surgeon receives Distinguished Service Award from Texas Medical Association

HOUSTON - An Austin surgeon and former Texas Medical Association president has been awarded the organization's highest honor at its annual conference.

David C. Fleeger, MD was awarded the 2022 TMA Distinguished Service Award at the TexMed conference in Houston.

"I’m sure every recipient of this award has felt as I do: honored and humbled," Fleeger said in a release. "I don’t really consider what I’ve done all that ‘distinguished.’ I think of myself as a doctor in the trenches every day, trying to be a good physician and a good surgeon."

Fleeger, a colon and rectal surgeon, was the association's 154th president when midway through his term, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. As the state was managing distribution of PPE to hospitals and health care entities, private practices initially were overlooked, so he and other TMA leaders worked with Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) officials to establish a system to distribute more than 23 million masks to physicians statewide.

"I can't think of a time in my career when I've been prouder of both the doctors and the health care professions in general, and certainly of our association," said Dr. Fleeger, who also chaired the Texas COVID-19 Health Industry Strike Force, a collaboration of leaders from hospital, nursing, academic, public health, long-term care, and other groups.

Dr. Fleeger still practices medicine full time at his nine-member group practice in Austin.