Sugar Land Former Candidate Wins Award for Activism

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SUGAR LAND: The Texas Medical Association Political Action Committee (TEXPAC) has named Sonal Bhuchar of Sugar Land as the 2013 recipient of its June Bratcher Award.

TEXPAC presented her with the award during the Texas Medical Association’s (TMA’s) annual conference, held this year in San Antonio.

TEXPAC presents the June Bratcher Award for Political Action every two years to a physician’s spouse who was an outstanding volunteer in a federal or state political campaign. This year, however, Bhuchar herself was the political candidate.

TEXPAC modeled the award in 1987 after a similar American Medical Association (AMA) Political Action Committee award, whose first recipient was June Bratcher of San Antonio. The honorees are members of the TMA Alliance, a volunteer organization of physicians and spouses. Bhuchar has been active in the alliance for 22 years.

Sonal Bhuchar is a physical therapist, community volunteer, and health advocate. She is married to TMA member Subodh Kumar Bhuchar, MD, a Sugar Land pediatrician and family physician.

Last year, Sonal Bhuchar campaigned for state representative in House District 26. Though she did not win the election, her grace and perseverance throughout her campaign proved she is a champion for the family of medicine.

“Sonal is known for working tirelessly and passionately for a number of groups, including the Fort Bend Independent School District and the TMA Alliance,” said Jerry Hunsaker, MD, chair of TEXPAC’s Board of Directors.

Before launching her run for office, Bhuchar, a 10-year veteran of TEXPAC, served as vice president of membership and vice president of community health and well-being for the TMA Alliance. In her community, Bhuchar was president of the Fort Bend Independent School Board, and served on the Board of Directors of the Fort Bend Education Foundation, the Child Advocates Council, the Economic Development Council of Sugar Land, the Indo American Charity Foundation, the Mahatma Gandhi Library, and the Sugar Land Exchange Club Board. Bhuchar was instrumental in merging Project WATCH, a community health program originally sponsored by TMA, into the everyday health education efforts of Fort Bend schools.

TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing more than 47,000 physician and medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 120 component county medical societies around the state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 is to improve the health of all Texans.