Lodi obstetrician receives award
Jasbir Gill, M.D., was honored with 2017’s Lifetime Achievement Award by the San Joaquin Medical Society, in honor of his lifelong achievements in the medical field and with his patients.
“I don’t know how to describe (how I feel about receiving this award). You feel very good about it, but you feel that this award honors commitment to medicine, quality of care, and to serving women in different ways in this area,” Gill said.
Gill is an accomplished obstetrician and gynecologist in the Central Valley, having served in San Joaquin since 1977. His OB/GYN practice is centered strictly around women, ranging from “pregnancies, cancer, babies, to women who cannot get pregnant,” Gill said.
His career began in 1977 at the San Joaquin General Hospital as Associate Director of the Residency Program in OB/GYN up until 1992. Gill was a dependable teacher and advisor to many surgeons throughout his time there.
“That whole time I could bring residents in to watch my surgeries… I think the whole experience really keeps you on your toes,” Gill said.
Gill’s medical journey did not begin in the San Joaquin Valley, however. Originally from northern India, Gill and his family moved to Uganda when he was only 10 years old because of his father’s work, which is where his interest in medicine began.
He assisted the physician for his father’s timber company with dressing patient’s wounds, which eventually led to him establishing a first aid network in Uganda once Gill reached high school. Shortly after, Gill went straight to medical school in Ireland at the Royal College of Surgeons. It was there, in 1968, that he was invited by Prince Phillip in London to receive the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award, recognizing his first aid work back in high school.
Gill ventured off to the United States to pursue an internship under a refugeestatus student visa, due to Uganda’s political climate at the time.
He started in Boston, making his way to Michigan for residency, then finally out to California where he would begin a brand-new life, and innovative advancements in medicine.
Along with advising surgeons for many years, Gill and his wife, Param Gill, M.D., founded Gill Obstetrics and Gynecology Medical Group which operates clinics and employs physicians in San Joaquin County.
“The medical women’s group is the largest independent women’s OB/GYN group from Galt to Manteca, bigger than Sutter and Kaiser,” Gill said. “I hope that my medical group will continue tradition in providing best care to patients.”
He also aids women who cannot afford prenatal care through his Pacific Women’s Medical Clinic.
Some of Gill’s high-tech advances include minimally invasive laproscopic procedures to treat urinary incontinence, as well as the first carbon dioxide laser laparoscopy hysterectomy in San Joaquin County.
“Before I started doing endoscopic surgery, no one was doing it here,” Gill said. These surgeries are much less invasive than the big operations at the time, and offer much faster recovery.
Among his many accomplishments and now being retired, Gill stays active in his family’s agricultural operations of growing grapes, developing real estate goals, and managing their RV resort in Flag City.
Gill was nominated by another physician Eric Albert, which then goes to a committee for a decision. The award was a surprise for Gill, but he thinks that “the lifetime achievement award is what I have done for many years.”
Gill received his Lifetime Achievement Award on Sunday at the Stockton Golf and Country Club. His whole family including his wife, three kids, and brother were there to honor him.