Family Medicine Residency
Welcome
Welcome to LifeLong Medical Care’s Family Medicine Residency, a program rooted in our community of Richmond, a city in the San Francisco Bay Area that is rich in history and diversity. We offer Family Medicine Residents the opportunity to take the full scope of training in our specialty beyond the clinic walls and into the community, where Residents are partners in fostering healthful environments and learn through innovative models in community engagement.
Our program was developed to meet the needs of the medically underserved by training Family Physicians adept at delivering ambulatory care in an urban-underserved setting. With the Family Medicine continuity clinic as the focal point of learning, our Residents also benefit from a deep bench of educational resources in the Bay Area that rounds out their inpatient and outpatient training, including as a member of the UCSF Family Medicine Educational Alliance.
LifeLong Medical Care is a well-established and highly regarded community health center with an over 45-year history of advancing health equity that began with the Gray Panther movement. With its unwavering commitment to the medically underserved, it continues to adapt to the needs of the community, providing care such as robust group visit models, integrated behavioral health, treatment of substance use disorders, HIV treatment and prevention, street medicine, LGBTQ+ health, elder care, and more. LifeLong is a rich and dynamic learning environment for those who intend to dedicate their careers to community health.
LifeLong and its Family Medicine Residency value diversity, equity, inclusion, as well as the continuous learning, intention, and humility required to create a safer and more inclusive learning environment. We believe these values are inseparable from our commitment to health equity. We seek residents who share these values, and whose collective diversity helps us better serve our community.
We are proud to be a cutting-edge, robust, and mission-driven program deeply connected to the community we serve. We train our Residents to be Family Physicians uniquely equipped to address the need of the communities in which they live and practice.
If you are inspired to help underserved communities thrive, I invite you to explore our program. You would join a dedicated team of leaders, innovators, and advocates who believe that social change is an essential part of the scope of Family Medicine.
Brent K Sugimoto, MD, MPH, FAAFP
Program Director
[He/Him]
Program Overview
Our Teaching Health Center
We are a Teaching Health Center program focused on training residents in a community-based primary care services setting. Our residents have their clinical home at the LifeLong William Jenkins Health Center, a brand new, state-of-the-art outpatient health center in Richmond, CA. The health center has primary care for all ages, integrated behavioral health, dental, and urgent care, as well as, imaging, lab services, and a wellness center. It serves as the resident’s continuity clinic throughout the three year program. Residents have access to a private workspace, lounge, conference spaces and sunny balconies.
Our Teaching Health Center
Program Highlights
- Clinic First Model
Robust Team Based Care Model with an emphasis on developing a continuity of care practice - Community Health Center Practice Setting
Providing services to our community regardless of the ability to pay and immigration status - Strong Community Medicine curriculum
A focus on advocacy and long-term community engagement - Advanced outpatient procedures curriculum
Family Medicine preceptors teach and model proficiency in advanced outpatient procedures. - Beautiful, new state of the art facility
Health center built in 2020 features urgent care, dental, onsite x-ray and Quest lab draw station, free covid vaccination and testing to the community and offers integrative medicine (acupuncture, osteopathic manipulation, wellness center) - Integrated Behavioral Health
Psychiatry and counseling services co-located with primary care, Residents are taught and mentored by double boarded Psych/ family medicine faculty. - Non-traditional primary delivery modalities
Street medicine, house calls, MAT, teaching kitchen and wellness center, shared group medical visits, school-based clinics, children’s diabetes camp - Structural Racism Curriculum
Multi-pronged approach to learning about, teaching and advocating for personal and society changes.
Program Highlights
Mission
Educate future leaders in family medicine who reflect the diversity of our community and possess the skills, knowledge and experience to engage in scholarship, partner with patients, families and communities, and promote wellness by addressing the root causes of suffering and disease.
Rotations
Cutting Edge & Outpatient Focused Rotations
- Family Medicine Outpatient
(3 blocks)- Panel Management
- Healthcare Systems
- Quality Improvement
- Population Health
- Leadership
- Community Medicine
(3 blocks)- Social Determinants of Health
- Social Justice
- Community Activism
- Street Medicine
- Primary Care Research
- Behavioral Medicine
(3 blocks)- Integrated Behavioral Health
- Psychiatry clinics in the primary care setting
- Specialized mental health services for all ages
- Outpatient Procedures
(2 blocks)- Comprehensive POCUS training
- Advanced GYN procedures
- Dental Procedures
Outpatient Rotations
Inpatient Rotations/Hospital Partners
Robust inpatient training will occur at the following East Bay Area partner hospitals with well established GME programs:
- UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital
(Oakland, CA) - Kaiser Permanente East Bay
(Richmond, CA & Oakland, CA)
- Sutter Alta Bates Summit Medical Center (Berkeley, CA)
- Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (Martinez, CA)
Inpatient Rotations/Hospital Partners
Sub-Intern Elective
This 4-week rotation provides the opportunity for 4th year medical students to train at a community-based primary care setting within the LifeLong Medical Care System. Rotators will be based out of our full scope family medicine residency clinic at our teaching health center. Rotators will experience the breadth of outpatient family medicine, including a high proportion of pediatric and prenatal visits, and may also include procedure clinic, OB/gyn specialty clinic, urgent care, Osteopathic Manipulation Treatment (OMT) clinic, HIV clinic, psychiatry clinic embedded within our primary care clinic, and group medical care visits such as Centering Pregnancy, Centering Parenting, diabetes group visits, chronic condition management groups, and behavioral health groups. This rotation provides an opportunity to learn about how Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) function and address social determinants of health. Students will also participate in didactic sessions once a week with the family medicine residents.
Applicants must be in good academic standing and actively progressing toward a Doctor of Medicine degree at an affiliated LCME-accredited institution, or a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree at an affiliated COCA-accredited, AACOM member institution.
LifeLong is a member of the Visiting Student Learning Opportunities (VSLO) program through AAMC. Learners may begin applying to the elective catalogue on March 1 and can expect to be notified after May 1.
Please contact the Director of Health Professions Education & Training, Julia Kelm (jkelm@lifelongmedical.org) for any questions.
For more information and to submit an application, please visit:
Sub-Intern Elective
Vision
Striving to be a national model of a community-engaged family medicine residency program that trains and empowers physicians to deliver care with respect, compassion, and humility.
Application Information
Who Should Apply?
We are looking for applicants who:
- Are aligned with the vision and mission of LifeLong Medical Care
- Bring diversity to the LifeLong Community
- Have overcome adversity and demonstrate resiliency
- Have previous experience in caring for vulnerable populations in a safety-net setting
- Are committed to working in diverse and medically vulnerable communities after residency graduation
- Want a rigorous full scope outpatient focused Family Medicine training program
- Aspire to be drivers of healthcare change and leaders in their work and community
- Interested in shaping a new residency program in a community health setting
- Are Bilingual preferred (especially Spanish)
Additionally, we are committed to recruiting, training, and retaining systematically excluded and marginalized in medicine groups.
Who Should Apply?
Interview Process
Only applications submitted through Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) will be considered. ERAS applications will be reviewed by a selection committee. Due to the large number of qualified applications received, only a select number of applicants will be invited to an interview. Interviews will be offered both in person and remote, according to the applicant’s preference. During the interview day, you will have the opportunity to speak with faculty members, residents, and other members of the LifeLong team. We encourage all applicants to review our website, Instagram, and YouTube for informational content about our program.
Throughout the recruitment season, additional opportunities to visit the clinic site and meet with residents will be announced, depending on COVID restrictions. These opportunities will be extended to all applicants who accept and complete interviews.
Interview Process
Application FAQ's
Here are answers to common questions about the application process, requirements, and the LifeLong Medical Care Family Medicine Residency Program.
Application FAQ's
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
LifeLong Medical Care is committed to providing hope and refuge to the communities we serve. We strive to be accessible, responsive, and engaged with our communities. Our commitment to fight discrimination and racism in all forms and to stand with our communities is strong.
We will continue to shine a light on the health inequities that have roots in historical and institutional discrimination and racism, while supporting the power of our patients and our staff to improve the health of our medically underserved communities.
LifeLong provides a safe, nurturing, and anti-racist environment for our staff, patients and community with culturally appropriate care. We empower ourselves to listen, work with and support our communities impacted by health disparities.
Want to Learn More?
Contact Us & Learn More
For more information, please email FMResidency@lifelongmedical.org
Contact Us & Learn More
Meet Our Team
Meet Our Residents
LifeLong Medical Care is an Equal Opportunity Employer.