Residency in Preventive Medicine
Overview
Training
Admissions
Contract Letter
Further Information
Please note that the UC Berkeley-UC San Francisco Preventive Medicine Program is not accepting applications for the 2007-2008 academic year.
We are currently accepting applications for 2008-2009 for the practicum year only. In 2008, we will accept applications for 2009-2011, for both the academic and the practicum years.
Overview
The Residency Program in General Preventive Medicine and Public Health is a joint program offered by the UCSF School of Medicine and the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. It offers an accredited two-year joint residency program in general preventive medicine; there are approximately two positions available every other year (beginning in 2005, 2007, etc.).
Residents learn the basic components of preventive medicine, including a core curriculum in epidemiology, biostatistics, health policy and administration, environmental and occupational health, the cultural, social and behavioral determinants of disease and the clinical practice of preventive medicine. The mission of the program is to train medical specialists for careers in public health practice, medical management and preventive medicine research with emphasis on the management of disease prevention and health promotion in populations. We strive to have each resident learn the skills necessary to serve as a health officer at the local, state or federal level upon graduation.
The program is directed by George W. Rutherford, M.D., professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine, and James P. Seward, M.D., M.P.P., associate clinical professor of medicine at UCSF. Both Drs. Rutherford and Seward have extensive backgrounds in public health and preventive medicine practice, and both are active faculty members at the School of Public Health. The program has several affiliated agencies that assist in training residents in their practicum (second) year including the City and County of San Francisco's Department of Public Health, San Francisco General Hospital, the Permanente Medical Group, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the California Department of Health Services, and several county health departments in the Bay Area. Jonathan E. Rodnick, M.D., M.P.H., Professor of Family and Community Medicine, is the Chair of the Preventive Medicine Residency Advisory Committee.
The program's recent graduates include the current health officers or deputy health officers of San Joaquin, San Mateo, El Dorado and Marin Counties and of the City of Berkeley, the Chiefs of the State's Immunizations Branch, Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program and Breast Cancer Detection and Prevention Program. Several graduates have gone on to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Epidemic Intelligence Service.
The residency consists of an academic year and a practicum year. Completion of the residency leads to eligibility for board certification by the American Board of Preventive Medicine. Residents can select from three training pathways: public health practice, medical management, and research. There are common requirements in both the academic and practicum years for all residents and special requirements for each pathway. These requirements include required and recommended courses and rotations all designed to help residents develop knowledge of and expertise in public health and preventive medicine in general and their chosen pathways. Residents in the public health practice pathway are focused on preparing for a career in federal, state, or local health agencies. Residents in the managed care pathway develop the skills and experience necessary to practice preventive medicine in health care organizations. An academic or research career is the usual goal of residents who selected the research pathway.
During the academic and practicum years, students serve as residents at UCSF in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and receive stipends at the PGY-4 level. The academic year leads to a master of public health (M.P.H.) degree from the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. During this year residents are full-time students at Berkeley. The academic year includes required courses in epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, health policy and administration, social and cultural aspects of public health, and preventive medicine. All residents concentrate in epidemiology. The academic year begins in July, and the residents take the intensive summer course in biostatistics and rotate in the afternoon at the California Department of Health Services. During the fall and spring semesters, in addition to the curriculum required by the School of Public Health and the epidemiology program, residents participate in the weekly preventive medicine residency seminar which provides an overview of public health practice, medical management, community-oriented primary care, occupational and aerospace medicine, and public administration. Other courses may be required or recommended for preventive medicine residents depending on their pathway.
Residents in the practicum year are exposed to a variety of experiences through rotations in different agencies and settings that will lead to the development of specific competencies and skills in the practice of public health and general preventive medicine. Each resident is required to spend at least two months at the California Department of Health Services or one of the local health departments in the San Francisco Bay Area. Residents are also required to spend up to three months at San Francisco General Hospital, a major UCSF teaching hospital, in a rotation that includes medical management and clinical preventive medicine experiences with an emphasis on occupational medicine, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted diseases. The major rotation for the practicum year, which can be up to six months in duration, is determined by the resident's pathway. Each resident is required to complete a major project during the practicum year that can vary from an epidemiologic analysis of a specific public health problem to beginning a new public health program to developing a preventive medicine clinical practice guideline for a health maintenance organization. In addition to rotations, residents attend the Designing Clinical Research course at UCSF in August and September of their practicum year and two practicum-year residency seminars each month. The seminars emphasize discussion of residents' progress toward their major projects and a variety of public health topics not covered in the academic year seminar.
Admissions
In general applicants are eligible for appointment to UCSF residency positions if they meet one of the following requirements:
- Graduate of a U.S. or Canadian medical school accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education
- Graduate of colleges of osteopathic medicine in the United States accredited by the American Osteopathic Association
- Graduates of medical school outside of the United States and Canada who either (a) have a currently valid certificate from the Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates prior to appointment, or (b) have a full and unrestricted license to practice medicine in a US licensing jurisdiction in which they are in training
- Graduates of medical schools outside the U.S. who have completed a Fifth Pathway program provided by an LCME-accredited medical school
In addition applicants for appointments in general preventive medicine and public health must meet these additional criteria:
Academic-year applicants. Applicants to the academic year must:
- Have completed a residency in primary care field (medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, or emergency medicine) at least one year of which must have been in an accredited residency program in the United States or Canada;
- Be eligible for a California Physician's and Surgeon's license and
- Have applied for admission to the M.P.H. program in Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. With the permission of the residency director or associate director, applications will be accepted from individuals who have completed a residency in a non-primary care field (e.g., psychiatry), who have not completed a residency or who have applied to an area of concentration other than epidemiology at the School of Public Health.
Practicum-year applicants. Applicants to the practicum year must:
- Have completed a residency in primary care field (medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, or emergency medicine) at least one year of which must have been in an accredited residency program in the United States or Canada;
- Be eligible for a California Physician's and Surgeon's license and
- Have received an M.P.H. degree from a School of Public Health accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health.
With the permission of the residency director or associate director, individuals with M.P.H. degrees from non-U.S. or non-accredited schools or from other masters programs (e.g., master of science programs in epidemiology) will be considered. There is no matching program for this residency. Applications are available through the program office or on the School of Public Health web site around September of the year preceding the start of the program.
Please click here for sample contract letter for admitted applicants.
For further program information, please contact Celeste Rogers at crogers@psg.ucsf.edu or (415) 597-8210.