Future physician leaders devoted to primary care get their start at USC Family Medicine Residency Program

Alberto Ortega, MD, MBA, chose to train as a primary care physician largely due to his experience with a South L.A. ambulance crew.

“I saw the need firsthand,” said Ortega, a family medicine resident at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “A lot of medical emergencies could have been prevented with good access to routine primary care. Patients can go undiagnosed or untreated for a long time, until it becomes that emergency.”

He gained a ground-level view of the consequences of the shortage of primary care physicians that exists locally, statewide, nationally and worldwide. The problem is only expected to worsen in the near term, with effects that cascade across health care. 

Taking the lead in filling the gap is one of the central motivations behind the USC Family Medicine Residency Program, where Ortega is in his second year of postgraduate training. The program, co-sponsored by the Keck Medicine of USC health system, aims to nurture primary care practitioners with the skillset to provide extraordinary care for patients in any setting. 

“We need primary care everywhere,” said Jehni Robinson, MD, chair and clinical professor of family medicine and associate dean for primary care at the Keck School of Medicine. “It’s rural and it’s urban, underserved and insured. And what our residents learn here, they can apply anywhere.”

The Family Medicine Residency Program’s “clinic-first” model gives trainees experience in various care environments while also making possible years-long therapeutic relationships with the patients they serve. Thanks to a network of robust partnerships, residents engage in clinical rotations throughout the diverse city of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas. 

For instance, at Keck Hospital of USC’s continuity clinic, residents see patients facing complicated health conditions needing the highest level of specialized medical care. Trainees also gain valuable experience at a community continuity clinic and in pediatrics and ambulatory care with Alta Med, a federally qualified health center with a major primary care footprint across Southern California. 

Beyond these sites, there are numerous other rotation opportunities that further enrich the training experience, ensuring residents are well-prepared for their future careers.

“Our north star in family medicine, as a specialty, is community,” said residency director Joanne Suh, MD, a clinical assistant professor of family medicine. “We were very intentional about building a program based in an academic-community hybrid.”

A unique element of the residency is a mandatory rotation as part of the USC Street Medicine team, providing care to people who are unhoused on their terms, where they reside. 

“Delivering care to patients in their home on the street — that’s the definition of health equity and personalized care,” Ortega said. “We meet patients where they are, we understand what they’re going through day-to-day, and we help them achieve their own wellness goals.”

Engaging community members outside of the clinic has gone hand-in-hand with the medical curriculum. Residents frequently participate in community health fairs alongside other learners from the USC Health Sciences Campus. They also staff a mobile clinic that provides health education and free screenings. Additionally, they provide counseling and mentorship to students at the nearby Francisco Bravo Senior High Medical Magnet. 

“We’re really trying to train family medicine leaders,” Suh said. “That leadership is innately linked to our calling, and the mission for equity and justice. It’s about training competent, empathic doctors, but also training community advocates.”

The recent vintage of the program, which graduated its first cohort in 2024, also presents its own type of opportunity.

“Our pitch to the residents is, ‘Come help build the program with us,’” Robinson said. “We look for people who want to be trailblazers, people who get a lot of joy from trying new things, with the idea that they are our partners in this.”

Ortega, whose commitment as a USC medical student to pursuing a career in family medicine earned him Pisacano Scholar recognition, sees the residency as a learning experience that helps him not only hone his clinical skills but also develop into the sort of fully-rounded primary care clinician that he wants to be.

“The program provides an excellent balance between academic training and service leadership development to form the best family physicians we can be,” he said. “I see myself as a doctor who provides longitudinal care for patients of all ages, and also someone who leads health system enhancements to make wellness more equitable and accessible. I specifically chose Keck for my residency training because I want to help lead change.”

Learn more about the USC Family Medicine Residency Program.