A Brief History:
The Berkeley medical program was created in Spring 1971 as an experimental health sciences and medical education program based on a broader definition of health than medical care alone.  It was designed to be responsive to societal and student needs and flexible enough to change as these needs changed.  A grant from the Dextra Baldwin McGonagle Foundation provided planning funds for the proposed program.

The first class in the Summer of 1972 was made up of students who had already been admitted to the Graduate Division of UC Berkeley.  These students were given a broadly based preclinical two years at Berkeley after which they were to seek admission to traditional medical schools for the last two clinical years, leading to the M.D. degree.    However, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) of the American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges did not then accredit two-year programs and so recommended concurrent registration at UCSF.  The LCME recommendation was adopted in 1973 and in the Fall of that year, the LCME approved this shared program.

In the Fall of 1974, funds for planning were allocated from the State to support the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Experimental Program in Medical Education, since renamed the UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program.  In the Spring of 1978 the first class was selected for the current 5-year program: three post-baccalaureate years at Berkeley followed by the two clinical years at UCSF.

The focus has shifted over the years from producing primary care physicians toward training physician-leaders who are knowledgeable in the social and behavioral ethical and human aspects of medicine and who can play key roles in a rapidly shifting health care system.

In 1993 the Joint Medical Program became part of the highly respected School of Public Health at Berkeley.  The joint venture with UCSF continues.  Course offerings in the School of Public Health have historically been utilized by the medical students in support of the medical and MS curriculum.  In addition, medical students with a strong public health interest often complete requirements for an MPH (in addition to the MS in Health and Medical Sciences).  The current affiliation reflects our concern for the needs of a changing health care environment.  These changes appear consonant with the aims of the original founders.  Throughout the past two decades one characteristic has remained constant.  Students are selected not only for their unusual intellectual and medical aptitude but also for human qualities of empathy integrity and concern.  Our students also demonstrate a keen interest in Master's thesis research, the hallmark of this program.