Joint Medical Program

Program Overview

The UC Berkeley–UCSF Joint Medical Program (JMP) is a five-year graduate/medical degree program that aims to educate a diverse workforce of antiracist physicians and collaborative changemakers. The program provides a unique integrated medical and research curriculum, with students spending their pre-clerkship years at UC Berkeley and their medical education at UCSF. Upon completion, JMP physicians are strong clinical thinkers with the skills to conduct research, work in multi-disciplinary teams, teach, and challenge assumptions in medicine.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

The UC Berkeley–UCSF Joint Medical Program (JMP) is a five-year graduate/medical degree program.

Objectives:

The program aims to:

• Advance health equity and social justice.
• Educate a diverse workforce of antiracist physicians.
• Develop outstanding physicians and collaborative changemakers.
• Equip graduates with the skills to solve public health and health equity challenges.
• Improve the wellbeing of patients and communities.

Program Description:

The JMP provides a unique integrated medical and research curriculum. Students spend their pre-clerkship years at UC Berkeley engaging in a unique medical curriculum centered around student-led inquiry while simultaneously earning a master’s degree (MS) in the Health and Medical Sciences at Berkeley Public Health. After two and a half years, students move across the Bay to UCSF to finish their medical education and receive their medical doctorate (MD). The JMP attracts students who are dedicated to improving the world’s health through scholarly self-directed yet collaborative inquiry. This is reflected in both the medical curriculum and master’s program. The Master’s program in Health and Medical Sciences (HMS MS) supports the JMP curriculum’s vision by adding to the traditional scientific education a framework of critical inquiry and humanism that affords students the intellectual, practical, and ethical skills to promote and lead change processes aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities. Concurrently, students participate in an innovative student-led, faculty-supported Foundational Sciences curriculum through small group learning strategies like Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Team-Based Learning (TBL), as well as a Clinical Skills curriculum, which integrates a structural and systems approach to patient care. As part of the UC Berkeley campus community, each class of 16 students is supported by a multidisciplinary, close-knit, and inter-professional team of faculty and staff, committed to individualized support for students’ success. Upon completion of the five-year program, JMP physicians are strong clinical thinkers, able to engage in understanding the broader issues surrounding medicine through inquiry. They have the skills to: Conduct and interpret research. Work well in multi-disciplinary teams. Teach. Challenge and change assumptions for how we think about, contextualize and practice medicine within larger systems.

Teaching:

• The program features small group learning strategies like Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Team-Based Learning (TBL).
• Students engage in a student-led, faculty-supported Foundational Sciences curriculum.
• The program includes a Clinical Skills curriculum.
• Faculty and staff provide individualized support for students’ success.