The Kaiser Permanente Central Valley Emergency Residency Program is a three-year (PGY1-3) ACGME accredited residency program based in Modesto, California. It has been designed to provide comprehensive training in all aspects of Emergency Medicine necessary for becoming excellent clinicians, educators, and leaders in the field of Emergency Medicine. We have a strong focus on clinical Emergency Medicine, leadership building, operations management, physician wellness, patient safety and service, health care delivery systems and risk management.
Training in the Central Valley
Stretching from Sacramento to Fresno, California’s Central Valley includes the San Joaquin basin, a region of nearly two million people, including more than 380,000 Kaiser Permanente members. Training in this setting offers a unique opportunity to care for a diverse and medically underserved population within one of the nation’s most integrated and coordinated healthcare systems.
The KPCVEM Program provides a well-established training experience that spans multiple high quality clinical environments. In addition to our primary training site at Kaiser Permanente, residents rotate through Doctors Medical Center in Modesto and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. Together, these sites offer broad exposure to community emergency medicine, county safety net care, high acuity trauma, pediatric emergency care, and critical care, ensuring that graduates are fully prepared for practice in any setting.
Residents regularly manage high acuity patients with ample opportunities for procedures, complex decision making, and hands on learning supported by experienced faculty across all sites. Our program’s strong relationships with each clinical partner foster a highly collaborative environment with robust teaching, interdisciplinary engagement, and meaningful mentorship.
Living in the Central Valley offers residents an excellent quality of life. It is one of the most affordable regions in California, allowing many trainees to rent or own spacious homes within a short drive of their clinical sites. The weather is sunny for most of the year and free from harsh winters, making it easy to enjoy time outdoors. The Valley is also ideally located for weekend trips, with convenient access to San Francisco, Napa, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, and the California coast.
Beyond the clinical mission, we offer expanding opportunities for leadership, scholarship, and community engagement throughout the Central Valley. Residents participate in initiatives aimed at improving community health, addressing healthcare disparities, and strengthening local health education pipelines, helping build a physician workforce that understands and serves the region.
What Makes Us Unique
Outstanding Clinical Training
- 3-year program that is unopposed for procedures
- Yearly cadaver labs and high-quality simulation curriculum
- Robust pediatric and high-acuity rotations are offered at diverse clinical training sites, including Kaiser Modesto and Manteca, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland (CHO), Kaiser Oakland PICU, and Doctors Medical Center Modesto
- 10-hour shifts (8 hours clinical + 2 hours for sign-out/cleanup) at the primary site, supporting safe practice and learning
- High attending-to-resident ratios ensuring abundant 1:1 teaching time
- Strong ultrasound training with dedicated US faculty and US fellowship
- Reliable access to specialty follow-up care, imaging, and procedures for your patients
Rich Academic & Research Environment
- Extensive research infrastructure with the ability to conduct large studies using the Northern California Kaiser database. Participation in the Clinical Research on Emergency Services & Treatments (CREST) Network, a multi-center collaborative network for emergency medicine research at Kaiser Permanente
- Access to one of the largest integrated healthcare databases in the country
- Evidence-based, data-driven culture supported by robust IT resources (EPIC, dictation tools, Abridge, resident iPhones)
- High-quality didactics grounded in adult learning theory, plus engaged journal clubs hosted in faculty homes
- Multiple fellowship opportunities (ultrasound, medical education, simulation), Addiction Medicine, Patient Safety and Quality, Data Science and Delivery
Supportive, Stable, and Resident-Centered Culture
- Attendings belong to a democratic group, not private equity
- Strong, accessible leadership with supportive ED administration, department chair, and hospital leadership
- Tight-knit resident and faculty community with biannual wellness retreats
- Confidential, free mental health resources and a deep commitment to resident resilience
Diverse Opportunities for Growth & Service
- Interest tracks including FemInEM, Social EM, and MedEd
- Community outreach opportunities (Destination Medicine, Sports med, mass casualty drills, sporting events, Black Men in White Coats)
- Unique Electives including KP Hawaii, Rural EM, Global Health, and Wilderness Medicine
Unmatched Lifestyle & Location
- Consistently great weather
- Easy access to the Bay Area, Napa, Tahoe, Yosemite, and the California coast
- Among the most competitive salary and benefits packages nationwide
- Unionized residency with strong protections and support
- Affordable housing options
Vision
To foster clinicians, innovators and academicians to lead the world of tomorrow.
Mission
To provide an excellent graduate medical education defined as clinical and research training in the domains of Medical Knowledge, Patient Care, Professionalism, Systems Based Practices, Problem Based Learning, Communication and Inter-professional Teamwork, to medical graduates with the ultimate aim of creating and sustaining a well-trained, highly skilled work force to deliver unrivaled care to the people of the Central Valley for generations to come.
Diversity and Inclusion
At Kaiser Permanente, we value the collaboration and respect between individuals that make us stronger, and we cherish the differences that make us richer. Diversity, inclusion, and culturally competent medical care are defining characteristics of Kaiser Permanente’s past, present, and future. Our Diversity and Inclusion Committee is dedicated in recruiting, developing, and retaining emergency medicine residents who are committed to eagerly serving our diverse patient population of Northern California.
We are accomplishing this by:
- Providing mentorship and support for trainees from all backgrounds with faculty who are committed to the growth and development of our learners.
- Continuing to seek and engage in new opportunities focused toward community outreach within our marginalized patient populations.
- Educating our peers in topics of health disparities as well as diversity, equity, inclusion throughout our formal conference curriculum and everyday emergency medicine practice.
- Reaching out to our community and engaging in service endeavors involving premedical students, marginalized patient populations, and improvement of at-risk citizen access to essential services.
- We are committed to recruiting a strong group of motivated medical students by connecting them with dedicated residents and faculty.
- We offer scholarship opportunities that expands access for students to rotations within our program.
