Frequently-Asked Questions

UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest, the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System (VASDS) in La Jolla, Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center at UC San Diego Health in La Jolla, and Jacobs Medical Center in La Jolla.

Residents have the opportunity to rotate through several different clinic sites including outpatient clinics at UC San Diego, the VA San Diego Healthcare system, Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) sites, Kaiser Permanente (one of the largest HMO organizations) and refugee clinic sites.

• 40% at UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest
• 40% at VASDHS
• 10-15% at Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center at UC San Diego Health in La Jolla
• 10-15% at Jacobs Medical Center in La Jolla

Residents currently rotate on many subspecialty rotations here including nephrology, infectious diseases, GI/hepatology and neurology critical care. Second and third year residents rotate on a hospitalist rotation where they have the opportunity to work one-on-one with the attending physician.

In the intern year: 8-9 blocks; in the second year: 5-6 blocks and in the third year: 3-4 blocks.

All categorical residents will be assigned to a continuity clinic for their three years at UC San Diego. At the majority of the sites, you will have your own patient panel and be the primary doctor for these patients. On average, you will have one full continuity clinic day per month during wards and ICU rotations, and 1-2 days of continuity clinic per week for outpatient or consult rotations. This is done to minimize the burden of continuity clinic while on inpatient rotations, while maintaining a larger percentage of time available for elective rotations. We have approximately nine primary care sites for the continuity clinic rotation, including multiple UC San Diego Health and VASDHS locations. For those interested in clinics for Spanish-speaking or underserved patients, those options are available as well.

Currently, UC San Diego does not use "X+Y" scheduling for internal medicine continuity clinics. This is to reserve as much time as possible for consult and outpatient electives instead of using outpatient time for the "+Y" continuity clinic weeks. The traditional scheduling of continuity clinics also provides for more potential scheduling flexibility for residents, as well as for better resident continuity during inpatient rotations. To help mitigate the demands of continuity clinic during inpatient rotations, UC San Diego utilizes an "accordion" schedule for continuity clinics. For inpatient rotations, residents attend continuity clinic for one full day per month. This full day of clinic eliminates the need for rushed inpatient work during the continuity clinic day and the need for mid-day driving to a clinic site. For outpatient and consult rotations, continuity clinic is more frequent and averages about 1-2 days per week.

The preliminary intern year is nearly identical to the categorical intern year. Preliminary interns may opt to participate in continuity clinic, but it is not required.

Our patient population is very diverse. UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest is a safety net hospital that cares for the underserved community, including significant homeless, immigrant, and HIV/AIDS populations. Jacobs Medical Center and the Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center are a referral center for the greater San Diego area, including many desert communities east of San Diego with large Hispanic populations. These experiences provide opportunities to speak Spanish on a regular basis, although translator services are always available. 

At UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest, we also have a dedicated HIV outpatient clinic (Owen Clinic). Owen Clinic attendings also lend their expertise as consultants for patients with HIV who are admitted to the inpatient service, and these attendings work closely with the house staff. The San Diego VA provides exposure to San Diego's very large veteran population, which tends to be younger, more ethnically diverse, and has a higher percentage of females than many other VA referral areas. At the Jacobs Medical Center in La Jolla, the patient population includes quaternary-level referrals from communities all over California, the U.S., and beyond, including patients requiring services in organ transplantation, advanced oncology, bone marrow transplant, advanced heart failure and others.

Morning conference is held at both UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest and VASDHS four mornings per week. The exception is Wednesday morning, when we have Medicine Grand Rounds. At the VA, we also have radiology rounds on Friday mornings. Over the noon hour, we have a weekly morbidity and mortality conference, weekly intern report and weekly faculty lunch lecture. In addition, we have our Friday School curriculum on Friday afternoons and a primary care curriculum during the first 30 minutes of each continuity clinic day.

Friday School is a dedicated, protected time for focused sessions on specialties within internal medicine. We spend 8 weeks on each specialty, which allows us to cover important topics in more depth. The Friday School sessions are intended to be more interactive and often involve skills workshops (ultrasound or injections, for example) and evidence-based journal clubs.

Mentorship is an important part of your training and there are many great mentors who are accessible at UC San Diego. As an intern, you will be assigned to a faculty member who is interested in mentorship. This will be your first mentor at UC San Diego, but you will be able to identify others as you establish your specialty and research interests. During the fall of intern year, the residency program hosts specialty and career meetings to help connect residents to research and career mentors.

All categorical residents may do two months of research during their second or third year. These two months can be consecutive or separate. All residents who participate in a research block make presentations at an annual Resident Research Symposium held in May.

Yes. Many of our residents present research at national meetings and a majority publish their research in peer-reviewed journals. To support these research endeavors, all residents get three academic days for attending conferences. The residency program also provides reimbursement for costs associated with traveling to conferences. A vast majority of residents present at regional or national conferences. Residents can be reimbursed up to $750 ($250 for preliminary interns)& over the course of the program for conference travel.

We have a well-established relationship and bidirectional exchange program with Maputo Central Hospital in Mozambique. All categorical residents have the opportunity to go to Mozambique for 1-2 months; residents may choose to do their research block in Mozambique, but the total time in Mozambique and on a research rotation at UCSD cannot exceed three months. Lodging is provided in Maputo.

Residents live in many neighborhoods in San Diego. Most live in Hillcrest or La Jolla/University City. Other neighborhoods where residents live include North Park, the Gaslamp District (downtown), Little Italy, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach and Mission Valley.

All residents receive an annual $6000 housing stipend. There is also an annual $500 educational stipend that you can use at your discretion for professional association memberships, abstract submissions, poster printing, etc.

The program also offers $750 ($250 for preliminary interns) over the course of the program for conference travel, and up to $299 in reimbursement over the course of the program for MKSAP books.  Please contact the residency office for reimbursement details.

Medical license fees and USMLE Step 3 fees are reimbursed once your license is issued during your PGY 2 year.  

All interns and residents get four weeks of vacation each year, in the form of two 2-week blocks per year.

All interns/residents are able to purchase a UC San Diego "B" parking pass for $90/month or a  "A" parking pass for $103/month. This allows for easy parking at all three hospital sites.

The program provides lunch at both UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest and VASDHS during morbidity and mortality conferences, faculty lunch lectures, and intern report. You also receive money for food for overnight on call shifts.

Graduates of the UC San Diego Internal Medicine Residency Training Program are highly trained internists who have successfully pursued a wide variety of career paths, ranging from fellowships to primary care medicine, hospital medicine or global health.

Approximately 65% of the graduating house staff seek subspecialty training. In the past three years, 54% of our graduates have pursued fellowship training immediately following completion of residency. The majority of our residents obtain their top choices for fellowship training at prestigious programs around the country, including many who choose to stay at UC San Diego.

Please see the Career Pathways page of this website for further details.