California HEAL Program
Social Medicine Fellow Role Description: Fresno Hub
Position Title:
California Social Medicine HEAL Fellow
Placement Site:
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Fresno / Inspire Health – Department of Family and Community Medicine (FCM)
UCSF Fresno FCM is a 56-year-old academic family medicine department based in Fresno, California, at the UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program. The department runs a 36-resident GME training program hosted in several rural and urban settings at federally qualified health centers and a tertiary care center serving the region. In addition, we also have an ACGME-accredited Palliative Medicine fellowship and a non-ACGME-accredited Maternal Child Health fellowship offered through the department.
Department:
UCSF Fresno Family and Community Medicine: The clinical staff of the Family Medicine department currently includes 30 full and part-time physicians.
Position Description:
The Central Valley of California is a culturally rich and diverse region that feeds the entire country but has often been left out of the mainstream California resource allocation and development conversations, including the provision of high-quality healthcare. This program provides an exceptional 1-year learning experience following the principles of equity and social justice for resource-denied patients and utilizing the HEAL curricular pillars and experienced educators. In this fellowship, you will find learning through peer mentors, clinical mentors, and through working with local social justice champions. The fellow will be provided a menu list of the type of work along with mentorship based on their preferences; they can choose a custom-built work and learning experience for themselves.
Areas of high need include street medicine through mobile vans, addiction care and harm reduction work at different community and Indian Health Services clinics, women’s health clinics focused on migrant workers, HIV and chronic hepatitis C and B care, etc. We also have an ongoing need of family medicine physicians who are excited to participate in a family medicine-run obstetrics service to deliver low-risk non-operative patients at a large tertiary care hospital.
Other initiatives that fellows can choose to include in their schedule, such as research and scholarly activities, faculty development for an academic career, public health work at Fresno County, specialty clinics such as procedure clinic, gender-affirming, wilderness medicine, sports medicine, palliative medicine clinics, to name a few.
HEAL Program Role and Responsibility:
- There will be an initial 5-10-day training in July at the beginning of the fellowship with other California Regional Hubs, as well as other US-based and international cohorts.
- In-person sessions for the Fresno hub and alum, 1x per month: a Pod call focused on well-being, project work, and work reflections.
- Personal mentorship provided by local hub leads and other local clinical champions for clinical and non-clinical learnings at least twice per month
- Journal club discussion post 1x per month.
- There will be quarterly weekend training treats at the different California-based hubs.
- There will be a training retreat at graduation in the last week of June with other California Regional Hubs, as well as other US-based and international cohorts.
Clinical Duties (70%):
- Clinical hours per week: 28-35
- Administrative hours per week: 12-15
- Any after-hours calls or weekends?
- Yes, only if the fellow participates in the FMOB service and the frequency of calls is based on the number of people available in the call pool, but typically it is once per week
- What is the typical clinical schedule on a given week
- This will be driven by the fellow’s interest and based on what they choose to include in their work. For example, a fellow is interested in incorporating women’s health, street medicine, and harm reduction work into their clinical time. As an example, they can choose a purposely built outpatient-only type of schedule as follows:
- Monday: Women’s health clinic 11 a – 8 p
- Tuesday: General FM 8-5p
- Wednesday: Project, self-learning day
- Thursday: ½ day Mobile Van – FM and ½ day Harm reduction clinic
- Friday: ½ day project, self-learning, and ½ day precepting
- Saturday: Off
- Sunday: Off
- This will be driven by the fellow’s interest and based on what they choose to include in their work. For example, a fellow is interested in incorporating women’s health, street medicine, and harm reduction work into their clinical time. As an example, they can choose a purposely built outpatient-only type of schedule as follows:
- Will fellows carry panels, or will this be walk-ins/urgent care?
- This is based on a fellow’s interests and based on what they choose to include in their schedule.
- Do fellows see any patients via telehealth?
- Yes
- How does this compare to full-time site employees
- Yes, similar to a core teaching faculty
HEAL Social Medicine Time (30%):
Every UC HEAL fellow will participate in ~30% of dedicated social medicine time, as listed in the schedule above. The fellows can choose to participate in several kinds of projects related to research and quality improvement, education and curriculum building, public health, and policy, through existing initiatives or through something they are interested in creating.
Job Requirements:
By 1 July 2027 applicants must have completed residency training at a US-based residency program. Applicants must be able to provide highly competent inpatient and ambulatory care and have a clear passion for serving the underserved. Additionally, they should have the desire to interact with and teach medical learners.
The HEAL Initiative:
HEAL is a global health organization that connects, trains, and mentors local healthcare professionals in resource-denied communities to strengthen care delivery and lay the foundation for enduring, systemic improvements in healthcare worker resilience and patient outcomes. HEAL believes health is a human right and works to increase access to quality healthcare around the world through centering equity, justice, and solidarity for vulnerable populations. Through global and local programs, HEAL empowers interdisciplinary healthcare professionals to address the needs of resource-denied communities globally, including California, Mexico, Southwest Indigenous communities, and East Africa.
Compensation and Benefits:
The compensation for the California Social Medicine HEAL Fellow is up to $160,000.
Fellows will be eligible for a comprehensive benefits package at low or no additional cost. These benefits include:
- Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance
- Retirement plan including a Pension plan
- Medical Malpractice Insurance
- Life, Accident, Disability Insurance
- Access to UCSF and UC faculty support
- Additional benefits and perks
Visit the UCSF Human Resources Page for detailed information on Benefits for Residents and Clinical Fellows