The residents of the UC San Francisco - East Bay Program rotate through clinical rotations at the Alameda Health System (Highland Hospital) Oakland, Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Walnut Creek), San Francisco VA Medical Center, and Benihoff Children's Hospital (Oakland). Clinical rotations through the various sites provide our residents with exposure to a wide variety of patients with diverse clinical problems, surgical faculty, and practice environments.
At the completion of training, residents will have gained extensive experience in all of the primary components of general surgery. Our graduates easily exceed the requirements in all of the defined categories in the curriculum specified by the American Board of Surgery.
Leadership
The UCSF-East Bay General Surgery Residency Program is led by Program Director Barnard J. A. Palmer, M.D., M.Ed., a general surgeon and surgical endocrinologist. Palmer is himself an alumnus of the program and the recipient of numerous resident teaching awards. He has a keen interest in medical and surgical education including skills training and medical leadership.
Program Composition
The program matches 7 categorical and 9 preliminary residents each year and has positions for 44 residents (16-7-7-7-7), with all categorical residents who perform satisfactorily graduating at the end of the fifth clinical year. Residents in good standing have the opportunity to elect conduct research after the third clinical year. The UCSF-East Bay program has a thriving research enterprise, and opportunities at outside institutions are possible based on resident interest.
Clinical Rotations
The program provides graduated level of responsibility for each resident with ultimate responsibility attained during the chief year. Specific rotations include:
1st Year: General Surgery, Trauma, Intensive Care, Anesthesiology, Urology, Neurosurgery, Endoscopy, and Liver Transplant.
2nd Year: General Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, Vascular Surgery, and Intensive Care.
3rd Year: General Surgery, Transplantation, Vascular Surgery, Endocrine Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery.
4th Year: Chief Resident rotations in General Surgery and Trauma.
5th Year: Chief Resident rotations in General Surgery at the integrated hospitals.
The residency curriculum has undergone recent restructuring to ensure the maintenance of high quality educational experiences, while meeting the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) guidelines on resident work conditions and work hours.
Resident Research
Collaborative research by faculty and residents in the program span a wide range of basic and translational surgical science including clinical outcomes research. Resident research is one of the centerpieces of the program. Residents are actively mentored by our dedicated faculty. Upon completion of the PGY III year, top UCSFEB residents are offered the opportunity to pursue basic science and clinical research in laboratories of prominent surgical investigators throughout the U.S.