UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program (JMP)

University of California, Berkeley

This is an archived copy of the 2022-23 guide. To access the most recent version of the guide, please visit http://guide.berkeley.edu.

About the Program

The UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program (JMP) is a five-year graduate/medical degree program. The pre-clerkship years are spent at UC Berkeley, engaging in a leading-edge integrated problem-based-learning medical curriculum while simultaneously earning a master's degree (MS) in the Health and Medical Sciences at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. After 2.5 three years, our students move across the bay to UCSF to finish their medical education and receive their medical doctorate (MD).

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Admissions

To apply to the UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program (JMP), applicants start by:

1.    Applying to UCSF via AMCAS

2.    Receiving and accepting an invitation for a UCSF secondary application

3.    Following the instructions on the UCSF secondary application by checking the JMP box to indicate interest in the JMP

4.    Submitting additional JMP-specific application materials as instructed

After checking the JMP box, applicants will be prompted to provide additional JMP-specific materials, including two short essay questions. Only applicants who have checked the JMP box on their UCSF secondary application will be considered for JMP admission.

Learn more about JMP program admissions.

Master's Degree Requirements

The UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program (JMP) is a pioneer in teaching medicine in the broader context of public health and health systems. The goal of the JMP’s curriculum is to train physician “changemakers” who approach medicine with a broad trans-disciplinary understanding of the social and structural determinants of health, health systems science, community health, and health equitypopulation health, health equity, and data science.

The integrated academic and professional approach to learning medicine is three-pronged:

1.         Structured research mentorship;

2.         Foundational courses in public health, health systems, and medicine;

3.         Freedom to choose additional courses that support your research.

This curriculum will not only support your research but also provide you with a critical perspective of the context in which you will practice medicine.

The following outline describes the course requirements for the JMP curriculum with a minimum of 32 credit units taken for your master’s in addition to the medical curriculum.

Curriculum

The curriculum consists of foundational core courses and courses in two possible tracks selected by students. Master’s courses are taken in parallel with medical courses. Students should commit to a track once they identify a mentor and a project, which is expected by the end of the first year. The two tracks provide the curricular flexibility needed to accommodate various approaches to achieving the program’s goals. In other words, we recognize that the education of antiracist changemakers can be accomplished through different paths.

In the table below, the core required courses are shaded in green. The orange and purple shading in the table represent the two tracks. Track A (purple shading) focuses on changemaking through health policy and biomedical sciences. Track B (orange shading) focuses on changemaking through social science and humanities. The required methods course for track A is biostatistics; for track B, students, with their mentor’s advice, will select an appropriate methods course.

MS Course Requirements, minimum 32 Units:

HMEDSCI 261Research Seminar (First three semesters)3
HMEDSCI 264Course Not Available (Last two semesters)1
HMEDSCI 297Course Not Available (Summer Research Field Study, at least 1 unit is required)1
HMEDSCI 296Special Study (Practicum, at least 1 unit is required)1-10
Epidemiology Course, 3 units minimum {student can test out}3
PB HLTH 224EHealth Care Quality3
Changemaker/Leadership course
PB HLTH 215Anti-Racist and Racial Justice Praxis Spring Student Elective3
One Research Methods course in the methods students will use for their project. 2-4 units each course. Applies only to track B. For track A, biostatistics counts as a methods course {see below}4-8
PB HLTH 200LHealth and Social Behavior Breadth (or equivalent required for Track B)2
1-2 content or methods electives, 2-4 units each course4-8
Biostatistics course - Required for Track A; can test out3
PB HLTH 200JHealth Policy and Management Breadth Course (or equivalent required for Track A)2

JMP Masters of Health & Medical Sciences Thesis

A JMP student’s MS coursework and research culminate in the crafting of a thesis, including an in-depth literature review of the student’s area of expertise and a scholarly product, often a manuscript for submission to a journal. Students can pursue research in any field of knowledge with a link to human health.  A database of prior JMP research theses can be accessed at: http://escholarship.org/uc/ucb_ucsf_joint_medical_program

Courses

Health and Medical Sciences Program

Faculty and Instructors

* Indicates this faculty member is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Faculty

Amin Azzam, Clinical Professor. Medical education scholarship.
Research Profile

Katherine Brooks MD, Assistant Professor, Medicine. Clinical Skills Faculty.

Odinakachukwu (Odi) Ehie MD, Associate Clinical Professor. Anesthesia Head, Clinical Skills.

Monica Hahn, Associate Clinical Professor. Family & Community Medicine. Family physician, HIV specialist, and Clinical Director/Co-Principal Investigator of the Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center (PAETC). JMP PRIME-US faculty.

Jodi Halpern, Professor. Public health, bioethics, patient autonomy.
Research Profile

Seth Holmes, Professor. Medical anthropology, transnational im/migration, race and racism, gender and queer studies.

* Susan Ivey, Associate Adjunct Professor. Public health, health disparities, interventions, community-based participatory research.
Research Profile

Claudia Landau, Associate Clinical Professor. Neuroendocrinology of Stress, Cognitive Assessment in Diverse Cultures, Community Bases, Fall prevention.

Leanna W. Lewis, LCSW, Associate Director, UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program Administrative Program Director, UCSF Program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved (PRIME-US) at the JMP.

Jyothi Marbin MD, HS Clinical Professor, Pediatrics Director, UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program.

Osagie Obasogie, Professor. Law, bioethics, reproductive and genetic technologies.
Research Profile

Gaspar Rivera, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Pediatrics. Clinical Skills Faculty.

Ashkon Shaahinfar, MD, Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine. Clinical Skills Faculty.

* Karen Sokal-Gutierrez, Clinical Professor. Nutrition, maternal-child health, early childhood health, oral health, child health in developing countries.
Research Profile

* Gustavo Valbuena, Associate Clinical Professor, Head, Foundational Sciences Head, Master's of Health and Medical Sciences. Conceptualization and operationalization of inquiry in medical education, the relationship between inquiry and the process of integration between basic sciences and clinical sciences, integration-supportive instructional design.
Research Profile

Lecturers

* Jennifer Breckler, Lecturer. Research on student learning styles and career choice Projects include creating new hands-on kinesthetic ways for students to engage in and learn about science.
Research Profile

Shelene Stine, Head of Assessment and Clinical Partnerships/Clinical Skills and Foundational Medical Sciences Faculty.

Daniel Woolridge, MD, MS, MPH, Lecturer, Pediatrics.

Emeritus Faculty

Hana Dan-Cohen, Lecturer. Integration of the basic sciences with a clinical curriculum in medical education.
Research Profile

Sara Hartley, Lecturer. The interpersonal domain of doctor-patient interaction, The interview, Mind/brain models.
Research Profile

Guy Micco, Clinical Professor, Emeritus, Co-director, UC Berkeley Program for Health and Medical Sciences. Aging/old age, suffering, and death, the medical humanities.
Research Profile

* Kent Olson, Clinical Professor Emeritus. Diagnosis and management of acute poisoning, Cost-effectiveness of poison control centers, Case development in the JMP case-based curriculum, General Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology.
Research Profile

Richard Quint, Clinical Professor Emeritus.

* Ann Stevens, Clinical Professor Emerita. Women's health issues, Medical education, Physician/patient relationshi.
Research Profile

* John Swartzberg, Clinical Professor Emeritus. Social epidemiology, community interventions.
Research Profile

Contact Information

UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program

570 University Hall

Phone: 510-642-5479

Visit Program Website

Director, UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program

Jyothi Marbin, MD

Phone: 510-643-4702

jmarbin@berkeley.edu

Head, JMP Master's Program, and Head Graduate Advisor

Gustavo Valbuena, MD, PhD

gvalbuena@berkeley.edu

Graduate Student Affairs Officer

Deanine Johnson

Phone: 510-642-5671

deaninejohnson@berkeley.edu

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