University of California Davis Health Program

Program Identity & Fit

UC Davis Family and Community Medicine is an academic, university-affiliated program built on a longitudinal FQHC continuity experience embedded in every resident's training, reflecting an explicit mission around marginalized and underserved populations, health equity, and harm reduction. Clinical training spans FQHCs, the academic medical center, and the VA, supporting broad-scope practice including high-risk obstetrics, addiction medicine, psychiatry, and inpatient care, and the department runs distinctive combined four-year Family Medicine/OB and five-year Family Medicine/Psychiatry pathways for advanced procedural or double-boarded training. Research is substantial and visible at the faculty level (CDC- and NIH-funded work on opioid/benzodiazepine safety, stigma, social determinants of health, transportation and dialysis access), with residents and students actively mentored into presentations and publications, though research remains encouraged/integrated rather than a mandatory core output for every resident. Graduates are described as going on to serve disadvantaged urban and rural communities across California and nationally, indicating a program identity oriented toward full-scope, equity-driven primary care rather than narrow subspecialization.