Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency
Program Leadership:
Gina Solomon, MD, MPH, Program Director
Robert Harrison, MD MPH, Associate Program Director
Program Contact:
Lucia Wang, Program Administrator
Address:
Occupational and Environmental Medicine
University of California, San Francisco
Department of Medicine, UCSF
2540 23rd Street, Rm. 2901
San Francisco, CA 94143
Phone:
(415) 763-7392
Program Description
Introduction
The Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) program is a two-year ACGME-accredited residency program offered by the UCSF School of Medicine. The UCSF Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) Training Program prepares physicians for practice and leadership roles in clinical, academic, governmental, NGO, consulting, and corporate settings. The program provides academic instruction, clinical and non-clinical proctored experiences, and research opportunities. A large core and affiliated faculty based at UCSF, together with extramural clinical faculty and other preceptors, and our faculty partners in nursing, industrial hygiene, and ergonomics, provide this training. Graduates of the UCSF OEM program are currently leaders in a wide range of practice settings. Trainees will achieve competency in all core knowledge content areas in OEM and are encouraged to develop areas of special expertise. In keeping with this goal, the educational program is individually tailored to meet the needs of each trainee.
Educational Program (Basic Curriculum)
The UCSF Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) residency is an integrated, 2-year program in which the trainees progressively take on greater responsibility and achieve core competencies according to the Milestones delineated by the American College of Preventive Medicine and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACGME). There are three curricular components: didactic, clinical, and non-clinical learning opportunities. All three components are central to the mission of the program, and each contributes to advancement within the milestones for OEM.
In the first year, trainees typically complete coursework to earn a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Entering trainees who already have an MPH or an equivalent degree and who have already completed a primary residency may matriculate as a second-year resident at the time of program entry. For entering residents who already have completed an MPH but do not matriculate at entry into the second year, the first-year curriculum will include a combination of clinical work (a minimum of 4 months) as well as other non-clinical rotations. The residents enroll in the Interdisciplinary MPH track, an accelerated, 9-month program. The program focuses on an interdisciplinary understanding of complex issues and the leadership challenges of successful interventions in public health. Core required coursework includes biostatistics, epidemiology, health services management and administration, environmental health, social and behavioral influences on health, and public health leadership. The Preventive Medicine Seminar includes a component of quality improvement training.
Additional graduate-level didactic content beyond the MPH addresses: Industrial hygiene (both years); Clinical epidemiology (first year); An academic year-long (September-June) twice-monthly program of Grand Rounds and Journal Club; A year-long twice-weekly resident conference held at noon; Risk/hazard assessment and communication (offered every other year for all residents); Toxicology (first year); The annual three-day UCSF Division of OEM CME, addressing a wide range of OEM content; Mentored, dedicated research with protected time.
A month-long program (August each of two years) features industry site visits. Theses provide an industrial hygiene (IH)-focused curriculum including a range of industrial and non-industrial workplaces, as well as environmental health site visits. The trainees are expected to observe and record occupational and environmental hazards and the corresponding control measures. Each trainee is expected to do preparatory research prior to at least two of the site visits, and to brief their colleagues on the occupational and environmental health issues related to that industry. In addition, each trainee is expected to complete at least two write-ups after the site visits to summarize the hazards and risks, and to communicate recommendations. Site visits include a wide range of industries and environmental sites in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Examples include: refineries, metals manufacturing, foundries, cement manufacturing, pharmaceutical and biotech facilities, research laboratories, sewage treatment facilities, waste handling facilities, food processing, dairies, farms, nail salons, and construction sites.
Types of Rotations and Educational Activities
The second year of residency training is devoted to a combination of clinical experience (minimum of four months), non-clinical rotations, and research. A typical breakdown of the trainees’ activities by year is shown below:
First Year
- 1 month of industrial hygiene course (August) including industry site visits and clinical work plus didactic training. Training in Clinical Research Course occurs in August as well.
- 8½ months UC Berkeley School of Public Health coursework
- Weekly half-day clinic throughout year
- 3-4 weeks of occupational clinical needlestick hotline coverage (nights and weekends)
- 2½ months of additional full-time clinical rotations (July; mid-May through June)
Second Year
- 1 month of industrial hygiene course (August) including industry site visits and clinical work plus didactic training
- Weekly half-day clinic throughout year
- 3-4 weeks of occupational clinical needlestick hotline coverage (nights and weekends)
- 3 to 4 months of additional full-time clinical rotations
- 2-4 months non-clinical rotations including corporate or consulting and public and environmental health
- 2 months of research
Instructors and Resources
The UCSF OEM Residency Program has a wealth of clinical and research faculty distributed throughout UCSF and its associated hospitals listed below. Education within the program and supervision of trainees are the focus of the majority of the faculty.
Teaching Staff
- Rahmat Balogun, DO, MPH, Associate Clinical Professor, UCSF , Medical Director, UCSF Occupational Health
- Timur Durrani, MD, MBA, MPH, Professor of Medicine UCSF , Associate Chief for Clinical Services, OECM, Medical Director, ZSFG Occupational Health Services
- Sheiphali Gandhi, MD MPH, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCSF, Director, Northern California Silicosis Network
- Sandeep Guntur, MBBS, MD, MPH, Associate Clinical Professor, Interim Director, Employee Health Department of Medicine San Francisco VAHCS Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM)
- Carisa Harris, PhD, CPE, PT , Professor of Medicine, UCSF , Director, Ergonomics Graduate Training Program, UCB , Director, Northern California Center for Occupational and Environmental Health
- Robert Harrison, MD, MPH, Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCSF, Public Health Medical Officer, California Department of Public Health , Associate Program Director
- Sarah Janssen, MD, PhD, MPH, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCSF , Staff physician, Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, San Francisco Opera Plaza
Instructional Facilities
The main facilities, which offer a wide depth and breadth of clinical, non-clinical and research experiences and training, are:
- Bay Area Air Quality Management District: Non‐clinical
- Thomas Allems: Clinical
- California Division of Occupational Safety and Health: Non‐clinical
- California Department of Public Health: Non‐clinical
- Consulting Practice (Richard Cohen; Michael Fischman): Non‐clinical
- CA Dept. of Industrial Relations, Division of Workers Compensation : Non-clinical
- ZSFG Federally Qualified Health Center: Quality Improvement Project
- Kaiser Permanente Medical Center (San Francisco): Clinical experiential
- Kaiser Permanente Medical Center: Non‐clinical
- Labor Occupational Health Program: Non‐clinical
- National Resource Defense Council: Non‐clinical
- California EPA, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment: Non‐clinical
- Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU): Clinical
- Poison Control Center: Clinical
- Veterans Affairs Medical Center (San Francisco): Clinical
- Agile Occupational Health: Clinical
- Zenith Insurance: Non‐clinical
- Employee Health ZSFG & MZ: Clinical
- Multispecialty Rotation (Multiple UCSF and Kaiser sites): Clinical