New USC residency programs set trainees up to lead in meeting tomorrow’s health care needs

The Keck School of Medicine of USC is expanding its options for medical training in Southern California with a slate of residencies designed to prepare trainees to lead in addressing the challenges and opportunities ahead in health care. Building on a long history of excellence in graduate medical education, the new programs are largely focused within the Keck Medicine of USC health system, adding to the residencies jointly sponsored with Los Angeles General Medical Center. 

The range of disciplines for the new residencies was selected with the aim of playing a role in addressing predicted shortfalls in physicians in California and nationwide. The first two programs, in family medicine and anesthesia, debuted in 2021 and 2025 respectively. Programs in psychiatry, hospice and palliative care medicine as well as internal medicine will begin summer 2026. 

In a recent conversation, Glenn Ault, MD, MSEd, senior associate dean for graduate medical education and professor of clinical surgery at USC’s medical school, shed light on what sets the new training programs apart.

How will the new programs expand on the strength of the current postgraduate training offered at the Keck School of Medicine of USC?

The new residency programs offer the advantage of training at Keck Hospital with its specialized levels of tertiary and quaternary care. We also train residents in the community setting, at Verdugo Hills Hospital and Arcadia Hospital. Trainees learn in settings like those where they’ll pursue careers, while retaining all the advantages of an academic system and the complex cases seen there. 

For example, even though most anesthesia training takes place in academic medical centers, most anesthesiologists don’t practice in that environment. Our new program will train residents in the community hospital setting and ambulatory surgery centers. These are the type of places they’ll practice — and could become the places they will eventually practice!

I want to emphasize that we’re not looking to compete with our existing programs. The additions are ultimately about doing something complementary that we can’t offer in the existing structure and to answer a crucial need. It’s well-known there’s a physician shortage in this country. We are expanding our training experiences to ensure that our residents not only become the best possible physicians but are also nimble enough to meet the changing demands the health care providers of tomorrow will face. 

The current Keck School of Medicine training programs are known for hands-on experience, often with the toughest cases. How will the new programs build on that?

Our hands-on training in a variety of settings prepares you for whatever you may face in your career. At Keck Hospital residents get critical experience caring for patients with the most complex health issues — those too challenging to be handled at other facilities in the community. 

At the community hospitals based in the San Gabriel Valley, residents work with a very diverse population of patients. And while there will always be a hospital-based component, we know that the community’s needs are in primary care and ambulatory settings. A lot of our new programs are also looking at how we can innovate while fulfilling those needs. 

For example, our psychiatry program is partnering with the outpatient Veterans Affairs facility downtown. The people who have put their lives on the line for us as veterans can face very significant mental health challenges. By training at the VA, our residents will not only learn how to help these patients work through these challenges but also gain a depth of experience they likely wouldn’t get at other places. 

In family medicine, we have a nationally recognized Street Medicine program. They have proven results providing effective health care to people who are unhoused. This is a growing field offering a specialized kind of care and many programs throughout the country model their programs after ours. In our program, residents can train with the innovators at the forefront of this field.

What do these programs offer for the resident who wants to be a physician-scientist or have another kind of impact beyond the patients they care for?

Our programs enable trainees to potentially create their own pathway, one that will prepare them to lead in their field, particularly because of the incredible opportunities we have throughout USC. Here on the Health Sciences Campus we have highly regarded research programs like the USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute and USC Stem Cell. Residents can take part in translational studies that benefit the same communities they’re caring for.

Then there’s everything that the University Park Campus brings to the table, including the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. If a resident has an interest in public policy and advocacy, the Schaefer Center is leading the way in those areas. Residents regularly find opportunities to collaborate with those folks. 

There are also options for advanced degrees. Our approach has always been, if a resident wants to participate in a USC program, we find a way to make that work. We feel that’s a part of their overall development as a physician. In today’s world — and even more in the future — physicians are going to have to do more. They’re going to have to advocate for themselves and for their patients. We’re thinking about how we can give them those skills.

The opportunities are endless, between the depth and breadth of the university as a whole and then all we have to offer at the Keck School of Medicine.

How do the new programs offer trainees a springboard to working and living in the greater Los Angeles area?

Institutions like the Keck School of Medicine sponsor residency programs to train future generations of physicians, wherever they go. But we hope they’ll be interested in being part of our workforce. If there’s an option for them to stay with us, we would love to have that pipeline of extraordinary new physicians.

Of course, living in Southern California is certainly an attraction. The culture, the food, and the climate make it a phenomenal place to live. I came from Philadelphia 30 years ago and haven’t left. 

What does it mean for trainees to join the Trojan Family?

USC has a unique atmosphere, the feeling that you belong to something bigger than yourself. You become a member of the Trojan Family, and you will be for life. That means you’ll always have a home here after you graduate. You will always have the colleagues who trained and supported you, and we’re committed to helping you succeed wherever you go. 

You know, I walked through an airport in Paris last year with a USC sweatshirt on, and I got a “Fight On” salute. We have global reach. There are doors you never knew about that could be open to you when you’re part of the Trojan Family.