Internal Medicine - Internal Medicine Oakland

We are an academic community program founded over 70 years ago—the first Kaiser Residency Program in the country! A busy teaching hospital noted for clinical excellence, caring for an extremely diverse patient population in a supportive and friendly environment. You will be well prepared for fellowship training, and careers in hospital medicine, primary care, academic medicine, or public health. You will love living in the center of the vibrant Bay Area with easy access to San Francisco, Napa Wine Country, Berkeley, and only a few hours from Lake Tahoe.

• Fellowship Match success: Since 2015, 90% of Kaiser Oakland residents have matched into their 1^stor 2^nd choice program for fellowships at competitive programs across the country.
• Fellowship programs: In conjunction with our Kaiser Northern California residencies, we sponsor fellowships in Pulmonary-Critical Care, HIV, GI, Oncology, Nephrology, Community Medicine, Patient Safety, and Addiction Medicine.
• ABIM Board Success: Since 2014, 97% of graduates have passed the ABIM exam on their first attempt (as compared to national averages of 88-92%), and the Program Director edits the First Aid for the Internal Medicine Exam Board Review book!
• Scholarly achievements: Our 3-year programs in research and QI have led to numerous presentations and awards for Kaiser Oakland residents at local and national conferences. Check out our list of recent publications, presentations, and awards in research and QI!
• Distinction in Medical Education KORE pathway
• Medical Student teaching: Over 60 medical students rotate with us annually, and Kaiser Oakland is the first site UCSF added when they expanded the Longitudinal Integrated Curriculum (LIC) model and required sub-internship rotations. Our program affiliations include:e:
  • UC San Francisco School of Medicine and the UCSF KLIC Program
  • UC Davis and the ACE-PC program
  • UC Berkeley School of Public Health
  • UCSF/UCB Joint Medical Program
  • Drexel Medical School
  • California Northstate University Medical School

Olivia Kizzee, Finalist ACP Vignette Competition

Oakland is the second most ethnically diverse city in the US. In 2015, Kaiser Permanente was rated by DiversityInc as one of the “Top 50 Companies for Diversity”, and our patient population reflects this wonderful socioeconomic and ethnic diversity.  Over 150 languages are spoken within our city limits. As of2021, 21% of our patients are Black, 20% Asian Pacific Islander, 17% Latino, and 2.5% mixed or Native American.  Among our members who chose to self-identify gender, 12% identify as transgender. We have a very diverse case mix including Medicare/Medicaid patients and patients with Covered California (our ACA insurance), as well as care of the uninsured. It is our goal to promote equity in health care for all individuals and to eliminate disparities in health outcomes. We are proud of the 2014 New England Journal of Medicine publication authored by investigators from Harvard and Michigan which demonstrated that Kaiser Northern California—but no other health plan– was able to eliminate disparities between blacks and whites in control of blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes by 2011. [Ayanian JZ et al. NEJM 2014; 371: 2288-2297.] Hear more from our program residents and faculty about a recent Black History Month celebration in this video.  Four minutes into this 11-minute video, residents Raleigh Fatoki and Olivia Kizzee are featured, followed by Outpatient Teacher-of-the-Year Dr. Lloyd Stockey and then Assistant Program Director Dr. Nailah Thompson.

In the Oakland IM Residency program, we are committed to stamping out racism and illuminating and eliminating the structural racism that exists in our communities. We firmly believe that diversity is excellence and we are committed to recruiting and training residents who share this mission. Read elsewhere on the website about the Medical Student Diversity Scholarships available for qualified sub-interns.

Community engagement is the reason we launched the IM Residency track in Health Equity & Disparities. Examples of community-based clinics and experiences all our residents can choose:

• Community clinics such as Lifelong Medical (a FQHC), La Clinical de la Raza, Asian Health Services, The Malta Clinic (for uninsured or underinsured patients), Oasis Clinic, Native American Health Center, and San Quentin (Care of the Incarcerated)
• Advocacy and community education at Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS), an organization that assists our community’s most vulnerable
• Volunteer days at community fairs/projects supported by Kaiser
• Pipeline mentoring with local middle and high schools and through SNMA and LMSA
• Funded International medical rotations
• On-site Farmer’s Market (Kaiser Oakland was the first U.S. hospital to have an on-site farmer’s market featuring food grown by local farmers)

We believe that the best physicians are the happiest and most balanced physicians. We achieve work-life balance for our residents through our comprehensive residency Wellness Program, led by a dedicated Assistant Program Director:

• Balanced schedules: Our schedule includes one weekend day off EACHWEEK on Ward Medicine rotations
• Twice per year residents may schedule a Wellness Day to attend to personal needs (dentist, doctor visits, optometry, etc.)
• Stipends earmarked specifically for local fitness center memberships, to the tune of $720 annually!
• Annual retreats for each class
• Resiliency small group sessions: facilitated debriefing on the challenges residents face (staying connected to family; handling grief and death; ways to prevent burnout, etc)
• Confidential wellness check-ins with mental health counselors, with access to multiple mental health professionals within and outside of the Kaiser network
• Regular Wellness activities ranging from potlucks to pancake breakfasts, Warriors and A’s outings, sock exchanges, hikes, bike rides, dog-walking, wine tastings, pick-up basketball, and happy hours
• Women in Medicine gatherings led by faculty and residents, ranging from career advice sessions to informal book clubs and wine tastings to formal research presentations through the American Medical Women’s Association
• Ask us about our Resident Wellness Passport and our new Lifestyle Medicine curriculum!

As the world we live in becomes “smaller” – there are an increasing number of career opportunities in international health. Our Global Health program is led by Dr. Somalee Banerjee, MD, MPH, a former graduate of the KP Oakland IM Residency who has extensive experience in academic global health. In addition to her clinical duties as a Kaiser Oakland Hospitalist, Dr. Banerjee is the Senior Research Fellow at Neerman, a public health/health systems research firm in India. A formal global health curriculum based on global ethics and comparative health systems study will form the basis of a global health certificate for residents in the Global Health Path.

Stimulated by their experiences in residency, several residents have pursued academic Global Health careers, such as Dr. Zena Salim’s Global Health fellowship at UCSF and Dr. Esme Cullen’s Epidemiology research fellowship at Harvard.

In addition to working with programs that Kaiser Permanente has a strong affiliation with, such as the Matibabu Clinic in Kenya and The University Teaching Hospital in Zambia, numerous opportunities exist to tailor international experiences to your interests. Our residents have rotated in places as varied as Vietnam, South Korea, Columbia, Taiwan, Cambodia, Belize, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and China. You will have the opportunity to learn and teach fellow residents and faculty about various Global Health issues including, but not limited to, providing health care in low resource settings, the different disease burdens outside of the developed world as well as how globalization affects health. Funding is available for international rotations.

Read about one resident’s journey here.

Kaiser Oakland faculty presented the first-of-its-kind curriculum in Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Internal Medicine trainees at the National Conference of the Program Directors of Internal Medicine meeting in 2011, and POCUS training continues to be a foundation of our program. Assistant Program Director Dr. Ingraham was a faculty lead at the National ACP Course on Point-of-Care U/S for Internists course and with the Society of Hospital Medicine and is the Kaiser Permanente Northern California lead Hospitalist for Point-of-Care Ultrasound teaching.

During new intern orientation, all interns are trained on the use of handheld U/S and the larger U/S on wheels. All ward teams have a handheld U/S, and access to larger machines on wards, in the ED, and in ICU. In addition,  our Primary Care APDs and ED faculty will teach residents to use U/S to perform evaluations of retinal, tympanic membranes, thyroid, knees, foot, hands, shoulder, spine, and hips, etc.

Residents seeking additional proficiency can pursue the Advanced U/S elective with our dedicated POCUS faculty—a great way to enhance your experience and prepare you for a career as a Hospitalist, a procedure-based specialist, or Outpatient Medicine.

In addition to ultrasound, Kaiser Oakland residents will receive hi-fidelity training using the Sim-Man 3G machine to practice running codes, rapid responses, sepsis, and stroke alerts, and critical event training.  During orientation and interspersed during residency, interns will use simulation mannequins to solidify their procedural skills for paracentesis, thoracentesis, lumbar puncture, and central venous catheter placements

The Bay Area really does have it all! And our flexible schedule allows plenty of time to explore:

• Oakland possesses a unique mix of vibrant urban lifestyles with quick access to nature.  Foodies will love the Michelin-star restaurants, explosion of craft breweries, quick access to Napa wineries and Tahoe skiing. Night life boasts a vibrant music and club scene, and outdoors enthusiasts in the residency regularly take advantage of over 100 miles of East Bay trails for hiking, biking, and ultra-running just a couple of miles from the medical center.
• And don’t forget about the professional and recreational sports teams—including 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors!!

Kaiser has long been a leader in the use of medical technology and our 100% fully integrated electronic medical record is the envy of programs nationwide! When COVID first struck and in-person visits to clinic were postponed, our residency program was prepared. Almost overnight we were able to flip the switch and conduct meaningful video visits with patients to maintain their health. Our patient-centered system allows for easy, efficient, comprehensive, and high-quality care. For example, as published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the death rate from heart disease among the Northern California Kaiser members is 30 percent lower than the rest of the Northern California population, adjusted for age, gender, socioeconomic status, and other common variables.

Residents at Kaiser Oakland will practice in new clinics and hospital buildings featuring the latest advances in technology, private rooms for patients, and individual iPhones for residents which are fully loaded with a HIPAA-protected EMR.  Come find out why President Obama sent a team to Kaiser Oakland to learn about the Kaiser model prior to designing The Affordable Care Act!

To promote our Medical Center’s mission to enhance diversity and to help to defray the costs of housing, airfare, and other expenses, Kaiser Oakland offers scholarships of up to $2,000 to senior medical students wishing to pursue fourth year rotations in internal medicine at our campus. Recipients are selected based on their record of promoting diversity and inclusion. More information can be found at the section on Medical Students Diversity Scholarships