Letter From Our Residency Directors

Dear Prospective Resident,

Since 1980, Highland Emergency has trained amazing clinicians and leaders in Emergency Medicine. Our alumni, in both academic and private institutions, have taken a piece of the shared experience at Highland and brought it to their respective roles in administration, residency and fellowship leadership, research, and clinical practice. The legendary training at Highland allows you to practice anywhere in the world from the altitudes of the Himalayas, to the remote villages of Chiapas, to the Academic Departments of the most prestigious Medical Centers. We ARE Emergency Medicine.

Training in Emergency Medicine is based primarily at Alameda Health System – Highland Hospital, the only adult trauma center in Northern Alameda County serving a population of approximately 1 million people. Highland has over 90,000 patient visits per year in our new, state-of-the-art, all digital emergency department. In addition, residents also rotate at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), an academic tertiary care center and leader in medical research. Additional time is spent at Children’s Hospital Oakland, a nationally renowned pediatric Level 1 trauma and tertiary care center. Kaiser Oakland and Eden Medical Center round out the training sites for residents and complement the experiences residents have at the other facilities. Taken as one, we believe the rotations and training sites provide the perfect experience for resident education.

In addition to clinical excellence, residents are provided opportunities and resources, to experience various ‘core areas’ of Emergency Medicine. We have a very active Research Division with full time research assistants, a statistician on staff, and a research foundation. We have a tremendous Ultrasound Division with 2 fellows per year, a world-renowned ultrasound faculty, and many national and international teaching opportunities. In addition, housed within our department is the Levitt Center for Social Emergency Medicine (partnering with the UC Berkeley School of Public Health). Each faculty member is actively engaged in research and writing projects to advance Emergency Medicine and these opportunities are widely available to residents as well.

Our program creates resident-faculty mentor relationships through a buddy group system which ensures that each resident will be nurtured and guided throughout their time here. We take our work very seriously but also value the wellness of our residents. Although we are admittedly biased, we feel our residents are the best-trained and happiest residents in the country. Their well-being IS a priority. Our long list of amazing residents and devoted alumni attest to this. Three decades of training Emergency Medicine residents gives us tremendous depth and perspective when it comes to what makes a great educational program.

Please consider joining us and becoming a part of the legend of Highland.

Sincerely,