UC Berkeley School of Public Health

Degrees & Programs

UC Berkeley - UCSF Joint Medical Program

Introduction
Degree Program
Admissions
Financial Support
Opportunities for Graduates
Further Information

Introduction

The Joint Medical Program (JMP) is an innovative medical education program developed as a partnership between the School of Public Health and the UCSF School of Medicine. The program provides a creative, alternative approach to medical education by offering early exposure to interdisciplinary perspectives, with strong emphasis on the humanities and social sciences in medicine. Small group, cooperative learning is combined with masters level research and thesis.

The mission of the UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program is to train physician-leaders in the human, sociocultural and bioethical contexts of health and disease.

Please visit us on the web at http://jmp.berkeley.edu.

Degree Program

The Joint Medical Program is a five-year M.S./M.D. degree program. The first three years are spent on the Berkeley campus completing the preclinical sciences component required for M.D. licensure and electing additional course work in support of a health-related master's thesis. A minimum of 20 units is required for the M.S. degree.

The M.S. degree is offered in health and medical sciences (HMS). Students take Hms courses especially designed for the M.D. and M.S. degrees as well as required M.D. courses and elective master's courses from other campus departments.

Upon satisfactory completion of the basic sciences requirements for the M.D. curriculum, the M.S. units and thesis, and passing the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam, Step 1, students transfer to the School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco where they continue the program by completing two years of clinical clerkships. Upon satisfactory completion of this phase of the program, students are awarded the M.D. degree.

Admissions

Detailed admission requirements for the M.D., including prerequisite courses, are outlined on the UCSF School of Medicine web site: http://medschool.ucsf.edu. Since JMP applicants are admitted as both medical and graduate students, all applicants should review the UCSF web site and meet UCSF admission requirements. Berkeley Graduate Division minimum requirements are a bachelor's degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution; a minimum GPA of 3.0; the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) in lieu of the GRE. In addition to the academic requirements listed on the UCSF web site, the JMP recommends upper-division courses in the biological, behavioral, and social sciences and an introductory course in statistics.

Admission requirements are high. The successful applicant must demonstrate the ability to master the scientific complexities of today's medical curriculum.

One must also demonstrate clear motivation for wanting to become a doctor and a commitment to working with and helping people. The JMP seeks applicants who have demonstrated the ability and motivation to investigate biological, behavioral, or policy aspects of health and the health care system leading to completion of a Master of Science thesis.

The JMP welcomes applicants from all ethnic, economic, and cultural backgrounds. The faculty is committed to increasing the number of physicians from groups whose life experiences and perspectives are presently underrepresented in medicine relative to the demographics of the population of California.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Applicants will be required to take the MCAT within 3 years of application. The MCAT is accepted by Berkeley in lieu of the GRE.

If you have questions about prerequisite courses or the date of your MCAT, please call the Office of Admissions at the UCSF School of Medicine at (415) 476-4044.

Financial Support

Sources of financial support include graduate fellowships, programs offered by the Office of Financial Aid, non-resident tuition scholarships, and Graduate Opportunity Program fellowships.

Opportunities for Graduates

Two questions frequently asked about the Joint Medical Program are "Where are your graduates?" and "What are they doing?"

Joint Medical Program graduates have taken many paths, approximately half choosing residencies in primary care, defined as Internal Medicine, Family Practice, Pediatrics, and Preventive Medicine. Fellowships and additional training have taken some into a broad array of clinical, teaching, public health and academic careers.

A summary of match results for Joint Medical Program graduates from 1997-2003 reveals the following specialty choices: