About
UCSF Fresno
Today and Yesterday
UCSF Fresno was created in 1975 as a graduate medical education campus of the University of California, San Francisco with support from the state legislature and Veterans Administration to address physician shortages in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Today, UCSF Fresno is the largest academic physician-training program between Sacramento and San Francisco to the north and Los Angeles to the south.
Medical Education
As a regional campus of the top-ranked UCSF School of Medicine, UCSF Fresno carries out training and patient care through a network of affiliated partners. Residents, fellows and medical students, including those in the UCSF San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education at UCSF Fresno experience a wide variety of settings, ranging from rural hospitals and clinics, health agencies and programs, faculty physicians’ offices to remote wilderness settings, to one of California’s busiest emergency rooms and the region’s only Level 1 trauma and burn centers. Our aim is to train physicians to be exceptional clinicians and patient advocates who can work in multidisciplinary teams, serve diverse patient populations and strive to improve health beyond hospital and clinic walls.
UCSF Faculty
It takes world-class faculty to train the next generation of outstanding physicians. Nationally recognized experts are among the senior UCSF faculty at UCSF Fresno.
Exceptional Patient Care
Thanks to the expertise of UCSF faculty physicians at UCSF Fresno, travel outside of the region for exceptional care is unnecessary. Most complex medical cases can be handled effectively right here. Faculty-driven services such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and programs and clinics for cystic fibrosis, liver health and lung nodules provide life-saving treatments and ensure patients with unique and complicated diseases can receive the care they need without traveling long distances.
Improving Health
In line with UCSF’s mission of advancing human health, UCSF Fresno is focused on improving health in the San Joaquin Valley. We are committed to recruiting and retaining the best and brightest physicians to care, heal, teach and discover. In addition to medical education, UCSF Fresno is engaged in medical research and clinical trials specific to San Joaquin Valley health issues, including diabetes, heart failure, lung cancer, and valley fever to name a few.
We are partners with a wide range of clinical sites.
Ideal Location
UCSF Fresno is in Fresno, the fifth-largest city in California. We are at the heart of California between Sacramento and San Francisco to the north and Los Angeles to the south, just a few hours drive to the central Coast, close to Yosemite and Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, and at the center of health care in Central California.
Building a Pathway for Future Physicians
UCSF Fresno gives back to the community through partnerships and service such as through our mobile clinic Mobile Health and Learning (Mobile HeaL). We also prepare students from diverse backgrounds for health and medical careers through our Office of Health Career Pathways which oversees programs including San Joaquin Valley-MedBridge, Doctors Academy, Summer Biomedical Internship and Reaching Out to Aspiring Doctors conference among others.
9
Residency Specialties
21
Fellowship Sub-Specialties
2
Physician Assistant Residencies
300+
Physicians Trained Each Year
635+
Core and Volunteer Faculty
40-50%
Retention
152+
Clinical Trials, Studies and Public Service Projects
“We are committed to recruiting, training and retaining the best and the brightest physicians and patient advocates in the region, for the region. Creating a pathway for students to pursue their educational and career goals of becoming physicians and completing the bulk of their medical education and training in the San Joaquin Valley is essential to keeping them in the Valley. Clinical research is a key component of our curriculum. All faculty and learners are expected to engage in research, especially projects and studies addressing health issues that affect Valley community members.”
Michael W. Peterson, MD, MACP UCSF Fresno Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education and Research Frank and Roxie Moradian Chair in Medicine UCSF Professor of Medicine
“The goal of Graduate Medical Education at UCSF Fresno is to train skilled, caring physicians who are interested in caring for an underserved patient population while addressing health care disparities. We have a holistic approach to training future physicians that includes a strong emphasis on physician wellness and diversity and inclusion. At UCSF Fresno, we work to train physicians for the 21st century who are prepared to be leaders in dealing with health inequities that exist in our nation and in our community and the many other issues that affect our health care system.”
Lori Weichenthal, MD, FACEP UCSF Fresno Associate Dean of Graduate Medical Education and Clinical Affairs, DIO Associate Program Director, UCSF Fresno Emergency Medicine UCSF Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine
UCSF Fresno was created as a regional graduate medical education campus of UC San Francisco in 1975 with support from the California Legislature and the Veteran’s Administration to address the severe shortage of physicians in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
UCSF Fresno has grown significantly over the decades. Today, we are the San Joaquin Valley’s largest academic physician-training program, providing high quality education for medical students from several University of California campuses, training residents in eight medical specialties as well as dental residents in oral and maxillofacial surgery. In addition, we offer training for fellows in 19 sub-specialties. And we offer training for physician assistants in two residency programs. Currently, UCSF Fresno annually trains about 250 medical residents and approximately 50 sub-specialty fellows. More than 300 medical students also spend time learning on a rotating basis from the faculty at UCSF Fresno, including medical students in the San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education (SJV PRIME). Faculty members and residents and fellows at UCSF Fresno provide direct patient care to thousands of San Joaquin Valley community members. Thanks to the expertise of faculty physicians at UCSF Fresno, patients receive specialty medical care locally. In most cases, travel to Sacramento, the Bay Area or Los Angeles is no longer necessary. Most recently, we were recognized by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education as a regional campus of our main campus, the consistently top-ranked UCSF School of Medicine. The designation paved the way for us to lead the new UCSF SJV PRIME in partnership with UC Merced. SJV PRIME is a unique medical education program for medical students who wish to provide culturally competent and accessible care in the San Joaquin Valley, particularly for underserved communities. UCSF Fresno is invested in the region and works with many partners, including UC Merced and Fresno State to conduct medical research involving health issues that impact Valley residents. UCSF Fresno also works with several partners to academically prepare a pipeline of students, particularly those who are underrepresented, for careers in health and medicine.
