Specialized Pathways

During the first year of residency, Categorical, PSTP, and Medicine/Pediatrics residents can apply for any of the 5 optional specialized pathways to further augment their training. These pathways tailor the clinical and educational experience during the second and third years of residency training and include opportunities for special elective rotations and focused didactic sessions.

Primary Care Pathway

Pathway Director: Stacy Charat, MD

About the Pathway:

The Primary Care Pathway provides an individualized educational experience for residents interested in pursuing careers in primary care. The pathway complements our robust ambulatory medicine training with additional continuity clinic experiences, supplemental didactic and social justice curricula, and exposure to a range of ambulatory care clinics with high relevance to primary care practice.

There are 2 ways to be engaged in the Primary Care Program:

Primary Care Track: Apply to the UCSD Primary Care Track through ERAS with your UC San Diego residency application to participate for all 3 years of residency training (NRMP Code: 1049140M0)
Primary Care Pathway: Apply during residency as a PGY-1 or PGY-2 during our annual pathway application cycle to join the pathway after the match (limited slots).

Elements of the Primary Care Pathway

Primary Care Blocks: Each block consists of a mix of continuity clinics, subspecialty clinics, weekly primary care academic half-days, social justice half-days, and unique clinical and educational opportunities. We strive to individualize each resident's rotation schedule based on personal interests and career goals.
Elective Rotations: Residents in the primary care pathway work with the pathway director to prioritize elective selections that will best prepare them for primary care practice. They are encouraged to select outpatient electives in endocrinology, dermatology, underserved medicine, correctional medicine, obesity medicine, pain medicine, psychiatry, and surgical subspecialties. These are in addition to the required rotations in geriatrics, gender medicine, musculoskeletal medicine, and neurology.

Sample Primary Care Block Schedule

Events/Site Visits: Special events during the primary care blocks include primary care morning reports, career panels, long-acting reversible contraception training, and individualized preparation for the job search process. We also take site visits to learn about different models of care, including the prison health care system, integrative medicine clinics, and private medical practices. Our social justice curriculum includes visits to a variety of community agencies focusing on issues including refugee health, correctional medicine, elder services, environmental justice, and healthcare for people experiencing homelessness.
Didactics: One afternoon during each week of the rotation is dedicated to didactics related to clinical and non-clinical topics to prepare residents for general internal medicine practice. Sessions include topics such as outpatient pain management, agenda-setting in primary care, the business of medicine, EMR data analysis, common ENT complaints, dermatologic procedures, common eye complaints, motivational interviewing, and smoking cessation.
Scholarly Work: Residents in the pathway are supported in the process of creating scholarly work including clinical vignettes, original research projects, and educational innovations. Residents are encouraged to submit their work for presentation and publication. The primary care blocks are scheduled to overlap with the Society of General Internal Medicine conferences to promote attendance and submission. Primary care residents may participate in the 2-month research elective.
Mentoring: Primary care residents are individually mentored through the career exploration and job search process by the pathway director and an assigned member of the GIM faculty. We hold an annual career panel with representatives from local hiring organizations to facilitate the job application process.

The primary goal of the pathway is to help our residents find the best possible career that allows them to achieve their professional and personal goals.

Resident as Clinician Educator (RACE) Pathway

Pathway Co-Directors: Sean Kenmore, MD; Connie Chace, MD

About the Pathway: The RACE (Resident as Clinician Educator) Pathway is a training pathway devoted to building clinical education skills and a diverse teaching portfolio. Residents are paired 1:1 with faculty mentors who provide focused training in medical education and oversee resident progression towards professional teaching goals. Additionally, the RACE Pathway runs sessions for all residents via our Friday School didactics.

The RACE Pathway consists of 3 primary components:

Didactic Workshops: These small-group sessions focus on various educational topics, such as curriculum development, giving effective feedback, and crafting a teaching portfolio.
Two-week annual RACE Pathway elective: This is a teaching elective block wherein residents focus on leading teaching workshops and conferences with medical students and resident peers.
Longitudinal Scholarly Project: Residents create an education project of their choosing. Previous projects include podcasts, a notewriting course for MS3's, and sub-curricula within Friday School.

Hospital Medicine Pathway

Pathway Director: Ali Farkhondehpour, MD

About the Pathway: The Hospital Medicine Pathway provides specialized training to residents who are interested in becoming leaders in academic hospital medicine. Residents in the pathway receive relevant, unique inpatient training, specialized didactics, one-on-one mentorship, and opportunities to participate in a variety of quality improvement projects.

Pathway provides flexibility to start at the beginning of either PGY-2 or PGY-3 year
Close one-on-one mentorship with an assigned academic hospitalist
A 4-week "Junior Hospitalist" rotation at the UCSD Medical Center in La Jolla
Didactics on patient safety, billing/coding, business of hospital medicine, inpatient medical consultation, ethics, and more!

Hands-on point-of-care ultrasound rounds
Participation in a 2-week "Professional Development" block, including unique rotations with IR, Radiation Oncology, Speech Therapy, and more!
Field trips to long-term acute care (LTACs) and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs)
Participation in hospital medicine grand rounds and hospital medicine journal club

Global Health Pathway

Pathway Director: Annie Cowell, MD

About the Pathway: The Global Health Pathway at UC San Diego leverages our interdepartmental and international relationships to provide residents with opportunities to learn about and provide care in underserved communities around the globe and right at our own international border. This includes our multidisciplinary journal clubs, simulation sessions, and elective rotations with our international clinical partners in Mozambique and Mexico.

Patient simulations in collaboration with other departments (Emergency Medicine, Reproductive Medicine, and Surgery) centered on providing care in limited-resource settings
1-month Local Global rotation at the Asylum Seeker’s Clinic, Cruz Roja hospital in Tijuana, Mexico, and additional clinic sites in Tijuana
1-month elective rotations:
- Maputo Central Hospital in Mozambique, with housing provided by the residency
- Hospital Civil in Guadalajara, Mexico

Integrative Medicine Pathway

Pathway Co-Directors: EB Sladek, MD; Samantha Spilman, MD

About the Pathway: The 2-year Integrative Medicine Pathway focuses on exploring a holistic approach to patient care. In this pathway, residents explore the evidence surrounding various traditional healing techniques and how they blend into Western medicine. The pathway features monthly, interactive didactics in which residents learn general principles of integrative medicine as well as disease specific treatments. Topics include integrative approaches to pain management, physician well-being, nutrition, vitamins, supplements, mind-body tools, and more! There are also multiple opportunities to discuss the literature on Integrative Medicine modalities through journal clubs and evidence-based medicine presentations. Residents also receive mentorship on a scholarly project if interested. UC San Diego one of the few internal medicine programs in the country to have a pathway curriculum focused specifically on Integrative Medicine.

Year 1: Focus on nutrition and supplements

Year 2: Focus on integrative medicine modalities (e.g., osteopathic manipulative medicine, acupuncture, meditation, etc.)