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Director:
Charles Vega, M.D. |
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Letter to Applicants |
Dear Residency Applicant,
Thank you very much for your interest in the Family
Medicine Residency Program at the University of
California, Irvine. Selecting the residency program that
is right for you is not an easy decision. As you explore
the many different training opportunities available to
prospective family physicians, you will need to consider
if the program matches your specific interests and
needs. I would like to highlight several qualities that
make our program an outstanding choice.
Our residency is one of only a few that truly combines
the advantages of a community-based program
with those of a university program. The residents do
half of their inpatient rotations at Western Medical
Center, where they are the only residents in the
hospital. They work closely with community
attendings, perform surgical procedures with minimal
competition from other learners, and gain an
understanding of the practice of medicine outside of the
residency. At the same time, our residents also have
the chance to work at a tertiary care university medical
center, learning from Family Medicine faculty as
well as specialists who are at the cutting edge of their
field. They can attend noon conferences presented by
nationally-renowned experts. The Family Medicine
faculty are all involved with the residents in some
capacity, and our residents have taken advantage of the
depth and breadth of their experience in research and
publications, international health, community outreach,
and special electives in diverse areas such as
complementary medicine and leadership/public health
policy.
Secondly, our residents the privilege of
working in a state of the art community health center
located in central Santa Ana. As the only Federally
Qualified Health Center in Orange County, the UC Irvine
Family Health Center Santa Ana affords the residents the
opportunity to serve patients who are truly in need
and who value the role that “my family doctor” plays
in their lives, in a setting that rivals many
private clinics. Our clinic offers a number of services,
including a pharmacy with several discounted medication
programs for indigent patients, dental care, and
radiology. Our residents perform a wide range of
office-based procedures under the supervision of Family
Medicine faculty, including minor surgery, colposcopy
and women’s health procedures, flexible sigmoidoscopy,
vasectomy, and casting/splinting. We are an
established presence in our dense, multicultural
community of Santa Ana, with multiple ongoing community
outreach activities to enrich the resident experience.
Finally, the residents themselves are our greatest
asset. When you come to visit, you should meet and get
to know them. We have a great group of physicians who
come from diverse backgrounds, but enjoy working and
playing together. They are committed to making the
program better and work closely with the residency
leadership. Together, we've made some remarkable
improvements to the curriculum and the residency
experience in general.
Charles Vega, M.D.
Residency Program Director
Department of Family Medicine |
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