Bringing Graduate Medical Education to St Joseph’s began as a dream. In 2015, Dr Benjamin Wiederhold, our Emergency Department Medical Director, first approached members of our executive team and our medical board and foundation to began exploring the idea of creating a program to educate physicians at St Joseph’s in an effort to further the care of the patients in this area of the Central Valley. He understood that physicians often grow roots in and around the region where they train. He deeply understood the needs of our community and the health care disparities they face on a daily basis and that bringing training programs to St Joseph’s could alleviate some of the barriers to accessing care that our patients face.

St Joseph’s gained institutional accreditation in 2017. Dr Jennifer Oakes, the founding program director for EM, worked to gain EM program accreditation which occurred in April 2018, and our first class of Emergency Medicine residents and Family Medicine residents began that July.

Following these first pioneering physicians, we began residencies in Internal Medicine, Anesthesiology, Psychiatry, Neurology, Urology as well as a Transitional Year program and an Ultrasound fellowship. Continued growth includes an Orthopedic Surgery program which began in July 2023, as well as plans for a Simulation Medicine fellowship (AY 24-45) and several internal medicine sub-specialty training programs.

 We are affiliated with Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine California, and our faculty all have academic appointments within the medical college. We support over 300 rotating medical students per year from Touro as well as American University of Antigua, California Northstate Medical University, and others. 

We have a close and collegial relationship with San Joaquin General Hospital and several of our programs have rotations at that facility. We are also an integrated training site for their General Surgical Residency Program and have been for over 25 years.

St. Joseph's Medical Center, was founded in 1899 under the direction of the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, and is a not-for-profit, fully-accredited, regional hospital with 355-beds, a physician staff of over 400, and more than 2,400 employees. We offer many services, including a behavioral health center, cancer institute, obstetrical and neonatal care, and broad surgical services.  St. Joseph's Medical Center is dedicated to delivering high quality, compassionate care, and gives access to Stockton and nearby communities.  Nationally recognized as a quality leader, St. Joseph’s is consistently chosen as the "most preferred hospital" by our community.