Mission
Our mission is to develop physician leaders in Community Health by teaching innovative techniques to provide equitable, culturally-humble care with a commitment to marginalized and vulnerable populations.
Overview
Kaiser Permanente Northern California offers 7 distinct 12-month fellowships in Community Health located at the following sites:
- Napa-Solano: Community Medicine and Global Health Fellowship
- Oakland: Community Medicine and Health Disparities Fellowship
- Sacramento Valley: Community Medicine and Public Health Fellowship
- San Francisco: Community Medicine and Urban Health Fellowship
- San Jose: Community Medicine and Vulnerable Populations Fellowship
- Santa Clara: Community Medicine and Leadership Fellowship
- Santa Rosa: Community Medicine and Faculty Development Fellowship
During the 12-month fellowships starting July 1st (or August 1st by mutual agreement), fellow time will be spent as follows:
- Community-based Primary Care (50-70%): fellows will provide Primary Care to the medically underserved at non-Kaiser community-based clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers
- Community Project and Didactics (10-30%): fellows will have protected time for didactics and dedicated mentors to help develop their required community- based scholarly project
- Kaiser Permanente clinics (10-20%): over the course of the 12 months, fellows will spend 1-2 half-days per week learning the Kaiser system first-hand by performing clinical duties at the primary Kaiser Permanente site
- Other opportunities (10-20%): Fellows will also have options to pursue rotations in a variety of educational areas, conduct mentored research, or develop further community-based initiatives
Application Process
The application for the 2025-2026 academic year is currently open. Interviews will take place virtually and details will be provided upon an applicant’s invitation to interview with a program.
As part of the application process, please submit an intent to apply if you are interested in applying.
In preparation for your application, please have the following items ready:
- Curriculum Vitae
- 3 Reference Contacts, who will submit letters:
- One letter of recommendation from your Residency Program Director (This may be submitted directly to melissa.m.wong@kp.org and a placeholder uploaded with the application)
- Two professional letters of recommendation (These may be submitted directly to melissa.m.wong@kp.org and a placeholder uploaded with the application)
- USMLE/COMLEX Transcript
- Medical School Transcript
- MSPE (Dean’s Letter)
- ECFMG certificate (for international medical graduates)
- Responses to short essay questions about your experiences in community health, your interest in the program, and the future you envision for your career.
Salary and Benefits
- Competitive salary
- Benefits: KP provides comprehensive benefits including Medical and Dental coverage, 3 weeks paid vacation and 1 week educational time, educational stipend, relocation stipend of $1,000, housing allowance of $8,000, stipends for 1 global health rotation (guaranteed for fellows in the CMGH track and for approved fellows in other CM tracks), meal allowance, and wellness allowance and support.
For detailed salary and benefit information, visit the Salary & Benefits page.
Fellowship Leadership
Lucia Martinez, MD
Regional Director, KP Northern California Community Medicine Fellowships
Lucia Martinez, MD, is the Program Director for the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Community Medicine Fellowships, IDEA Curricular Director, Advisor, La Salud Family Medicine lead, and Practica Conminga Profesora. In addition to overseeing the community medicine fellows, she teaches medical students and residents completing their community medicine and family medicine rotations at the KP San Jose Family Medicine Residency Program and surrounding community clinics where they provide care to underserved and marginalized communities of San Jose.
Dr. Martinez received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University in Human Biology, minoring in Comparative Literature. She received her medical degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA/Charles R. Drew Medical Education Program in 2018. She fell in love with Family Medicine and in 2021, completed residency at the Kaiser Permanente San Jose Family Medicine Residency as part of their inaugural class. More recently in 2022, she completed a Community Medicine fellowship as the first fellow in the Kaiser Permanente San Jose Community Medicine and Vulnerable Populations program.
In addition to providing care, she is passionate about community outreach and advocacy, mentorship, graduate medical education, and evidence-based medicine.
FAQ
Can I apply to more than one of the KP Northern California Community Medicine fellowship sites?
Yes! We encourage applicants interested in careers in Community Medicine to apply to as many of our Community Medicine Fellowship sites as you might be interested in. Each site shares a common goal of training the future leaders in community health, and fellows from the various sites will have opportunities to come together for didactics, social events, and project mentoring. Each site also has a unique topic area of emphasis and geographic location, which may influence an applicant’s choice(s). Please see individual community medicine fellowship websites for site-specific information.
Do fellowship applicants need to be Board-certified or Board-eligible?
It is not expected that all applicants (especially those still in residency) will have passed their Board exams. Prior to the first date of work as a fellow, it is expected that fellows will have completed residency training at an ACGME-certified residency and will have a California Medical License. Fellows will work with the Program Director to arrange time to take their board exam during fellowship (at the fellow’s expense).
What training backgrounds or specialties will be considered?
While KP Northern California Community Medicine Fellowships are designed for residents seeking primary care opportunities, each site may have certain stipulations.
- Napa-Solano, Santa Rosa, Sacramento, and San Jose – these sites only accept applicants from backgrounds in Family Medicine
- Oakland, San Francisco, and Santa Clara – these sites are open to applicants from Internal Medicine and Family Medicine
Will applicants who are just completing residency be considered, or are the fellowships only for physicians with more post-residency experience?
We will consider equally applicants who are completing residency and able to start in August, as well as applicants who have additional experiences after residency.
Is the start date flexible?
Generally, the fellowship start date is July 1st in order to coordinate orientation. A start date of August 1st is also possible by mutual agreement. Exceptional circumstances should be discussed at the time of applying with the program director who will make an effort to accommodate unique schedule requests, if possible.
What are the salary and benefits?
The salary and benefits package is competitive — see the updated Salary and Benefits.