Program Overview

Healthcare Administration, Leadership and Management (HALM) Fellowship for Physicians

The UC San Diego Healthcare Administration, Leadership and Management (HALM) Fellowship is a two-year ACGME-accredited training program for early-career physicians interested in health care leadership.

Program Overview

The fellowship is offered by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer at UC San Diego Health — a leading, three-campus academic health system center in San Diego and La Jolla, California. The UC San Diego HALM fellowship program will prepare trainees to be successful leaders in a wide range of organizations. The curriculum includes project-based training, didactic education, and experiential learning opportunities. A major focus of the program is system-level quality and patient safety, and fellows will get certification in Lean/Six Sigma.

Application Process

• Application deadline: December 31, 2025, for the program starting July 1, 2026
• Application components:
  • Current CV
  • Personal statement to describe interest in the HALM fellowship (1-2 pages)
  • Current and official medical school academic transcript
  • Two letters of recommendation:
    • One from a leader who can speak to leadership potential
    • One that describes clinical skills

Eligibility

• Fellows must be board-eligible in any clinical specialty
• The primary training site is UC San Diego Health
• International medical graduates are eligible to apply for the fellowship if they are U.S. board-eligible in their primary specialty

Sample Curriculum

Fellows participate in 12 two-month rotations. In addition, fellows will participate in the UC San Diego Health Leadership Academy and will obtain a Green Belt or higher in Lean/Six Sigma training that includes a quality/patient safety project.

Year 1

• Quality & Safety
• Hospital Operations/Patient Flow
• Medical Staff Affairs
• Information Services
• Transformational Health
• Surgical/Perioperative Workflows

Year 2

• Ambulatory Operations
• Clinical Governance
• Finance & Budgeting
• Health System Strategy
• Community Relations
• HR/Workforce Management

HALM Fellowship Team

• Robert El-Kareh, MD, MPH, MS – Program Director
  • Associate Chief Medical Officer, Transformation and Learning
  • Executive Director, Continuing Professional Development
• Ming Tai-Seale, PhD, MPH – Associate Program Director
  • Principal Investigator, UC San Diego Center for Learning Health Systems Science
  • Director of Research and Learning & Director of Outcomes Analysis and Scholarship

Additional Faculty

• Donna Beifus, RN, MPA
  • Chief Administrative Officer, Care Management
• Crystal Cene, MD, MPH
  • Associate Chief Medical Officer, Health Equity
  • Chief Administrative Officer, Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
• Brian Clay, MD
  • Associate Chief Medical Officer, Inpatient Care
• Ashley Gambhir, MBA
  • Executive Director, Transformation
• Joshua Glandorf
  • Chief Information Officer
• Christian Tomaszewski, MD, MBA
  • Chief Medical Officer, East Campus
• Chad VanDenBerg, MPH
  • Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer
• Catheryn Yashar, MD
  • Chief Medical Officer, Hillcrest and La Jolla Campuses