ABOUT US
About RotaCare Bay Area
RotaCare Bay Area’s Board of Directors is directly responsible to state licensing agencies for the provision of quality medical care and provides legal governance for clinics within their geographical area.
RotaCare Bay Area’s Leadership Team provides a consistent, reliable level of service and support to our clinics.
Great doctors providing the best free care
Marshall Fordyce, MD – Coastside
Dr. Marshall Fordyce is the co-Medical Director of the RotaCare Coastside Free Medical Clinic, where he has been a volunteer physician since 2010. Dr. Fordyce received his MD from Harvard Medical School and trained in Internal Medicine at NYU Bellevue Hospital, where he also served as Chief Resident. He specialized in Infectious Diseases and dedicated 15 years to the care of HIV patients as a physician and clinician researcher at Columbia Presbyterian and Rockefeller University, and then in therapeutics development at Gilead Sciences in Foster City.
He currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Trucode Gene Repair, Inc., a biotechnology start-up focused on the translation of an in vivo gene editing platform to treat disease arising from genetic mutations. Dr. Fordyce is also an advisor with Google X, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation.
James Lessenger, MD – Concord
Dr. Lessenger practiced family medicine and occupational medicine for 35 years. His experience includes the military, Veterans Administration, jails, prisons, private practice, a Federally enrolled clinic, research, writing, and consulting. He retired in 2017 and after about 23 minutes of boredom, volunteered to be Medical Director of RotaCare Concord Free Medical Mobile Clinic. He also volunteers as the medical director of a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center.
Michael Matsumoto, M.D., is a lifelong Californian. He did his elementary and high school in Castroville and Sunnyvale. He got his medical degree at George Washington University and did a residency in Internal Medicine at Oakland Kaiser Permanente. He retired a few years ago after practicing for over 30 years at Gilroy and San Jose Kaiser Permanente. Dr. Matsumoto is excited to be serving the medical needs of Gilroy and surrounding communities.
Gregory Thompson, MD, MSc – Monterey
Gregory Thompson, MD, MSc, is board certified in Internal Medicine with credentials in biomedical informatics. He has practiced medicine in the U.S. Air Force and the Veterans Administration. He has been a physician executive with the VA and Humana Government Business, and is co-founder of MDInformatics, LLC, a medical technology consulting firm. He joined the RotaCare Monterey Free Medical Clinic in 2010 as a volunteer medical provider and assumed the role of Medical Director in 2012.
Dr. Arlen Hoh has been volunteering for RotaCare Northern. Peninsula Free Medical Clinic in Daly City since 2018 and took on the role of the clinic’s Medical Director in 2020.
Dr. Hoh earned an MD degree from the University of California San Francisco and a concurrent MPH degree from the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health in 1977. He then completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Highland Hospital from 1978-1981. His employment started at Fairmont Hospital Extended Care Facility in 1982, eventually becoming Chief of Long Term Care. Dr. Hoh obtained a Board Certification in Internal Medicine in 1983 and Certification of Added Qualification-Geriatrics in 1988, (with re-certifications in 1998 and 2008). He also served as president of Fairmont Hospital Staff and spent multiple years on the Executive Committee of Alameda Health Care Systems Medical Staff at Highland Hospital.Additionally, he was an attending physician of the geriatric rotation at Fairmont Hospital Extended Care Facility for NPs and PAs, working with the Samuel Merritt PA program for over 10 years.
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Since retiring from Alameda Health Care Systems in November of 2015 after 34 years, Dr. Hoh has kept himself busy by staying involved in his local community. Aside from his work with RotaCare No. Peninsula, he has been volunteering with Clinic by the Bay since 2019 and is also the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Buddha’s Universal Church of San Francisco.
RotaCare Facts
RotaCare Bay Area was founded in 1989 by a local Rotarian with the support of his Rotary Club.
RotaCare provides care to the growing population of working and unemployed residents who are unable to pay for primary healthcare.
RotaCare Bay Area is heavily supported through grants, donations, and the hard work of our volunteers.
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research estimates that even with the Affordable Care Act, 11% of Californians will remain uninsured.
All RotaCare healthcare services provided at the clinic are free to the patient including medical exams, diagnostic testing, lab testing, and most pharmaceuticals.
RotaCare saves taxpayer dollars by providing patients accessible medical care in our community clinics rather than expensive emergency room care.
Two unique things about RotaCare are:
1) we provide free medical care
2) the organization is volunter
driven
Jane Hewitt, MD – Pittsburg
Dr. Jane Hewitt has been a regular volunteer at RotaCare Pittsburg Free Medical Clinic at St Vincent de Paul since 2012 and became the Medical Director in 2021. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine. After graduating from Stanford University, she received her Medical Degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and then completed her Internal Medicine Residency at UC San Diego. She joined The Permanent Medical Group in 1981 ​practicing at Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center and Fairfield Medical Offices. She was Chief of the Department of Adult Medicine in Fairfield for the last 13 of her 30 year career at Kaiser. She enjoys volunteering at RotaCare, helping patients and working with other wonderful volunteers and staff.
Photo by Don Melandry
Anthony Somkin, MD – West Contra Costa
Anthony Somkin, MD, is currently the Medical Director of the RotaCare West Contra Costa Free Medical Clinic (formerly RotaCare Richmond). Prior to being named the clinic’s Medical Director in 2016, he served as a volunteer provider at the clinic.
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Dr. Somkin received his Medical Degree from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He did his Straight Medicine Internship and Medical Residency at the Brooklyn-Cumberland Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, and a Fellowship in Medical Oncology at Mt. Zion Hospital and Medical Center, San Francisco. He was in private practice in internal medicine and medical oncology until he retired in 2013. Dr. Somkin then served as a Medical Supervisor in the Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit at Alta Bates Medical Center, the longest running cardiac rehabilitation unit in California.
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He has also served as the Medical Director of the Shanti Project; Associate Professor, the Joint Medical Program at UC Berkeley and UCSF; consultant, Medical Oncology, Martinez General Hospital and Medical Center and Chairman of Medicine at the Herrick Hospital and Med Center in Berkeley.
Bruce Frambach, MD – San Jose
Bruce Frambach, M.D., grew up in Southern California, graduated from Stanford University and then the USC School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency at the Kaiser Santa Clara Medical Center. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine.
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Dr. Frambach retired in 2017 after 30+ years of practice at the Kaiser San Jose Medical Center. He has been volunteering at the RotaCare San Jose Free Medical Clinic since 2018.
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Dr. Frambach finds working with the dedicated volunteers at the RotaCare San Jose Free Clinic Medical Clinic, providing much-needed medical services to members of the local underserved population, to be very rewarding and humbling.
Irina deFischer, MD – San Rafael
Irina deFischer, MD, graduated from Stanford and obtained her medical degree from University of Lausanne, Switzerland. She completed a Family Medicine residency at the UCLA/Antelope Valley program in 1985 and practiced in Marin and southern Sonoma County until retiring from Kaiser San Rafael in 2018. She has been a volunteer with the RotaCare San Rafael Free Medical Clinic since its founding in 1997 and took over as medical director in 2024.
Satish Chandra, MD, FACP – Santa Cruz
Satish Chandra MD, FACP, is a board certified physician in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine. He practices medicine with the Dignity Medical Foundation.
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Dr. Chandra earned his M.D. at Meerut University in India, 1972 and completed an Internal Medicine residency at St. Mary’s Hospital, an affiliate of the University of Rochester, 1980.
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“I like to take care of people in need of medical care and being part of the RotaCare Santa Cruz Free Medical Clinic lets me give something back to the community where I live and is professionally rewarding.” said Dr. Chandra.