Alameda Health System-Highland Hospital Program

Program Identity & Fit

Highland is a four-year, county-based safety-net EM residency and one of the oldest programs on the West Coast, built around a high-acuity, high-volume Level 1 trauma center serving Oakland's largely indigent and culturally diverse population, with complementary rotations at UCSF (quaternary care/research), Children's Hospital Oakland (pediatric trauma), and Kaiser/Eden (community practice) to round out exposure across care settings. The program has built named areas of national leadership—addiction medicine/substance use disorder treatment (Bridge Clinic, buprenorphine research, California Bridge Program) and point-of-care ultrasound (advanced nerve blocks, international ultrasound fellowship in Peru)—alongside a prolific social emergency medicine and health equity research division supported by NIH/CDC funding despite the department's small size. Career outcomes are explicitly mixed: graduates move into competitive fellowships (addiction, ultrasound, sports medicine), academic/education leadership, and community practice, with residents driving intern selection and a strong emphasis on diversity, mentorship pipelines (Social EM Research Diversity Externship, MIMS), and flexible elective time including wilderness, forensic, dental, and multiple international rotations (Peru, Bhutan, Haiti, Kenya). The program explicitly values residents who thrive in a county "crucible" model—handling high responsibility and diverse pathology—while contributing to its close-knit, alumni-driven, socially-mission-oriented culture.