JMP Questions and Answers

General Questions

• Why would I choose the Joint Medical Program (JMP) over a traditional program?

  As a society, we are living in a trifecta of concurrent public health crisis including racism, climate change, and COVID-19, our health system and country require physician leaders capable of understanding how to engage with these challenging issues at both the individual and policy/system level in order to transform our health systems.The JMP is the only medical program in the country housed in a school of Public Health and is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the intersection of medicine and public health. The JMP offers a unique course of study that integrates the study of foundational medical and clinical sciences with the participation in world class research. The JMP strives to produce physician “changemakers” who approach medicine with a broad trans-disciplinary understanding of the social determinants of health, health systems science, population health, health equity, and data science in order to improve the health of patients and healthcare systems.

• What are the strengths of the JMP?

  The strengths of the JMP include:

  • The study of foundational medical sciences in an active student-directed case and problem based pedagogy in small group tutorials.
  • Actively promoting camaraderie, teamsmanship and strong, non-competitive sense of community.
  • The ability to study medicine while attending UC Berkeley with its diverse student body, community and political organizations.
  • Emphasizing working independently in small groups and resolving the issues and conflicts that arise. This is exactly how people are expected to work in community and academic medicine. Students learn how to ask and answer questions, including learning the art of how to dive deeply into medical and research literature for understanding and context.
• How do JMP students perform at UCSF since the core curriculum is so different?

  The JMP is a regional campus of UCSF. We provide unique and equivalent training in all aspects of the medical curriculum. Our students have learned the requisite content and reached the equivalent competency milestones as their UCSF peers. JMP students are well prepared for and do well in their clerkships at UCSF. In addition they have honed their diagnostic, analytical, problem-solving, and research skills. The new UCSF bridges curriculum schedules the USMLE step 1 and step 2 after clinical rotations. JMP students join their peers as they prepare for these tests.

• Will all my classes be with the same 16 people for three years?

  The core medical, clinical, and thesis seminar courses are dedicated to the 16-member cohort. The courses that form the foundation of your master’s studies are taken at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health (BPH) and include members of the broader BPH community. Thesis electives can be taken across the campus.

• Does the JMP have the same professors as the UCSF program?

  JMP faculty members hold positions on the UC Berkeley campus, while some faculty members have joint appointments with teaching responsibilities at UC Berkeley and UCSF. Although the curriculum is organized and taught in a different format from UCSF, the content contained in the Berkeley phase of the program covers material taught during the first year and a half at UCSF. In addition, our faculty participate with UCSF faculty in course director retreats, committee work, and faculty development activities and clinical skills courses. UCSF and JMP faculty are colleagues who meet regularly in a variety of ways, including in their respective professional organizations.

• How does the faculty at the JMP compare with those at UCSF?

  JMP and UCSF faculty are often colleagues and friends, whose paths cross at retreats, workshops, meetings, professional activities, and in community work. The faculty on both campuses are outstanding teachers and scholars and work together well. The JMP is a community-based medical program, and many JMP faculty members are clinician educators with an active community practice in their specialty.

• Do JMP students take classes at UCSF?

  The core medical curriculum at the JMP is a comprehensive equivalent of the 1.5 year pre-clerkship Foundations 1 curriculum offered at UCSF. UC Berkeley is on a semester calendar and UCSF is on the quarter calendar, which makes intercampus exchange of coursework difficult. In spite of these difficulties, some JMP students have taken a thesis elective at UCSF. Also, many UCSF faculty serve as members of JMP thesis committees.

• What about the final 2.5 years (MS3 and MS4 years) at UCSF? How does the 5 years JMP program play out?

  JMP students spend their first 2.5 years (5 semesters) matriculated at UC Berkeley. They have been accepted into the UCSF School of Medicine but will not matriculate to that campus until after the winter break of their third year. During the fall of their final semester, students will participate in choosing clerkships alongside their UCSF cohort and get assigned a small group coach. Foundations 2 (F2) starts at the beginning of January, is 48 weeks long and culminates in taking the USMLE Step 1 and Step 2.

• What do your graduates do after graduation?

  Most of our students enter clinical practice and 60% of our students choose to practice in primary care, but many choose fields in a wide variety of non-primary care fields, including global health. Many JMP students will take on leadership roles in academic medicine, public health, and community-based primary care.