Dear Residency Candidate,
Thank you for your interest in the California Pacific Medical Center Psychiatry Residency Training Program! Based in the heart of San Francisco, our program offers a truly special experience. By combining the advantages of a small, intimate, tightly-knit resident community with the benefits of training in one of San Francisco’s largest and most reputable hospital systems, we are able to provide a residency experience like no other. We aim to train well-rounded and compassionate psychiatrists who will excel in the 21st century landscape of medical practice, patient advocacy, and professional leadership.
California Pacific Medical Center is a member of the Sutter Health network. It is an academic community hospital with campuses located throughout San Francisco. Our core rotations at CPMC offer residents excellent clinical training through closely-supervised work with San Francisco’s vibrant and diverse patient community. These experiences are further enriched through partnerships with affiliate sites such as San Francisco Free Clinic, San Quentin State Prison, and Mindful Health Solutions, where our trainees get more targeted experiences in areas such as no-cost care for patients in our community without insurance, correctional and forensic psychiatry, and interventional psychiatry. Elective time towards the end of training allows residents to further customize their experiences as they prepare for their next steps after graduation. Faculty work closely with residents on all rotations, with ample occasion for case-based teaching and supervision.
With an engaged and supportive Graduate Medical Education department and a partnership with Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, we are proud to offer an academically rigorous curriculum that prepares our residents for success in their post-residency careers. Many of our graduates pursue specialty fellowships; some join university departments; others practice in focused clinical settings such as correctional psychiatry or women’s mental health; and some enter private or group practice. At times, they don’t go very far at all: three current members of our small core educator and attending faculty are graduates of our program.
We encourage our residents take an active role in their own learning, and, with time, also in their peers’. Leadership and teaching opportunities are available in a variety of ways, such as by supervising third-year Dartmouth medical students on the inpatient unit and consult-liaison service, peer teaching in various settings, leading discussions in Journal Club and case review conferences, leadership appointments at professional organizations, and chief residency. We also welcome and take resident feedback very seriously, and rely on it for ongoing curriculum development.
Thank you again for your interest in our program. I hope this overview helps you get a better sense for what we offer. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions by calling or emailing our Program Coordinator, Ms. Jeannie Gardi, at (415) 600-3510 or Jeannie.Gardi@sutterhealth.org.
Janos Zahajszky, M.D.
Program Director, Psychiatry Residency Training Program