Alameda Health System-Highland Hospital Program

Program Identity & Fit

Highland Hospital is a public safety-net teaching hospital in Oakland that has trained internal medicine residents since 1955, with an explicit mission to graduate physician leaders delivering biopsychosocially-oriented, culturally-relevant care to Alameda County's most vulnerable patients. The program offers three tracks—Categorical, a Primary Care track dating to 1982 (one of the first in the country), and Preliminary—alongside Pathways in research, ultrasound, clinical teaching, health justice, or health systems leadership, reflecting a structure built around social mission as much as clinical training. Outcomes skew toward generalist practice: roughly half of categorical graduates become hospitalists, 30-40% pursue fellowship, and the remainder enter primary care, while the Primary Care track is designed explicitly to produce general internists for underserved communities through home visits, second clinics, and Primary Care Immersion weeks. The program values applicants with demonstrated commitment to health equity, community engagement, and culturally-responsive care, evidenced by its DEI infrastructure (ACE Task Force, Housestaff ACE Committee), a visiting scholarship targeted at underrepresented students, and graduate outcomes where the majority now practice in areas of unmet need.