Scripps Graduate Medical Education: Training Tomorrow's Physicians
Graduates now practicing medicine share their experience
Graduates now practicing medicine share their experience
Scripps Health is known for providing high quality and patient-centered care, with a long legacy of improving the health of the San Diego community. That legacy is strengthened by training new physicians to be future leaders in medicine through its Graduate Medical Education (GME) program.
“Scripps is a special place for the community and the people we serve, but it’s just as special for our residents and fellows,” says Michelle Higginson, MD, director of medical education at Scripps Mercy Hospital. “Once you’re part of our GME program, you’re forever a part of the Scripps family.”
During the last two decades, roughly 50% of GME program participants have ended up working for Scripps, one of its affiliated medical groups or community partners. Dr. Higginson speaks from experience; she started as a resident in the internal medicine residency program in the late 1990s. “The hands-on training, the dedication of the expert faculty and the opportunity to work with underserved communities made my time here so special,” she says.
Another GME alumna now working at Scripps is Rola Khedraki, MD, an advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologist at Scripps Clinic Anderson Medical Pavilion in La Jolla. For Dr. Khedraki, her GME journey has come full circle. She’s now an assistant professor of medicine in the program that she calls “truly transformative” to her medical career.
“Scripps is a unique place, where excellence in clinical care is matched by a deep commitment to education and innovation,” Dr. Khedraki says. “The GME program embodies this by providing a nurturing yet challenging environment where trainees are encouraged to think critically and push the boundaries of what is possible in medicine.”
Training physicians since 1920s
Scripps’ GME program is one of the oldest in San Diego. Its origin dates back to 1927, when Naval Medical Center staff began training at Mercy Hospital. A formal GME program didn’t start until nearly two decades later.
The first trainees in the American Medical Association-approved program arrived at Mercy Hospital in 1946. By 1949, GME included internal medicine, surgery, pathology, anesthesiology, and obstetrics and gynecology. During the following decades, programs in anesthesia and orthopedics were added.
Extensive residency programs
As for Scripps’ current GME offerings? “It would be easier to list the things we don’t have,” says Biraj Shah, MD, an internal medicine physician at Scripps Clinic Torrey Pines and director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Scripps Clinic and Scripps Green Hospital.
Today, Scripps’ GME program spans all five hospitals and Scripps Clinic. There are residency programs for internal medicine, family medicine, transitional year, pharmacy and podiatry and fellowships and subspecialty training in cardiology, dermatology, oncology, orthopedics, gastroenterology and endocrinology — just to name a few.
Dr. Shah says she loves training physicians because Scripps’ top-of-the-line facilities along with Scripps Research Institute offers “all the bells and whistles and opportunities that university programs have.” But because Scripps isn’t part of a big university or other large system, educators can really tailor trainings to best meet the goals and interests of residents.
“If one of my trainees wants to carve out more time doing something with artificial intelligence, that’s great, they can do that,” she says. “I really love that Scripps GME is set up so that we can give people that extra elective or extra rotation that lets them do something that’s meaningful to them, and that will contribute to their patient care.”
Serving the underserved
Serving the underserved
“Our trainees are the doctors who will be there to take care of me — and all of us — when we’re older or if we get sick. I’m incredibly invested in their education because I want them to achieve their goals, but I also see it as paying it forward and investing in the future of care in our community.”
Biraj Shah, MDWhile Scripps allows trainees the flexibility to pursue their own interests, a core tenant of the program is giving back to the San Diego community — in particular, underserved patient populations.
“San Diego does not have a county hospital, so we see people from all walks of life coming through our hospital doors, and our residents take care of a variety of these patients,” says Dr. Higginson.
Outside the walls of Scripps hospitals and clinics, GME residents teach and mentor high school students and the program recently began volunteering with San Diego Refugee Tutoring. Program participants also provide vaccines to nonprofits that help people experiencing homelessness or domestic violence.
Residents come to Scripps because they want to improve their skills and offer the best care possible.
“Scripps fosters a culture of collaboration and innovation, which was exactly what I was looking for in a training program,” Dr. Khedraki says. “I knew I would not only receive exceptional clinical training but also be surrounded by mentors and colleagues who were deeply invested in my professional growth and in advancing the field of cardiology.”
GME program instructors are equally forward-thinking. “Our trainees are the doctors who will be there to take care of me — and all of us — when we’re older or if we get sick,” says Dr. Shah. “I’m incredibly invested in their education because I want them to achieve their goals, but I also see it as paying it forward and investing in the future of care in our community.”
This content appeared in San Diego Health, a publication in partnership between Scripps and San Diego Magazine that celebrates the healthy spirit of San Diego.