Rebecca Berman

Rebecca Berman, MD, is a Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she serves as the Internal Medicine Residency Program Director. She plays a national leadership role in medical education and residency training reform.

Education:

• AB in African-American Studies, Harvard College, 1999
• MD, Harvard Medical School, 2005
• Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 2008
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, UCSF, 2018

Research and Professional Interests: Dr. Berman’s work focuses on medical education, primary care innovation, diversifying the physician workforce, curricular design, negotiation skills training, women in medicine, and care for the underserved. She has pioneered initiatives to improve equity and leadership opportunities for underrepresented groups in medicine.

Publication Trends: Her scholarly work spans over 15 years and includes key contributions to residency education, gender equity, health disparities (particularly in prostate cancer), and innovative teaching models. Recent publications emphasize pandemic recovery in medical training, bias reduction in residency selection, and leadership challenges for women in medicine.

Scientific Awards and Honors:

• Inducted into the Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators, UCSF (2022)
• Kanu Chatterjee, MD Medicine Residency Endowed Chair, UCSF (2024)

Leadership and Teaching: Dr. Berman is a national leader in residency education, serving as a Councilor for the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM), co-founding its Primary Care Program Director Group, and editing the widely used Primary Care Toolkit. She teaches negotiation skills to promote equity in academic medicine. She led the overhaul of UCSF’s internal medicine residency curriculum to enhance individualized training and resident well-being, especially during the pandemic.

Labs and Teams: She founded the Crimson Care Collaborative (CCC) during her tenure at Harvard/Mass General, a student-faculty network providing primary care to underserved populations while offering interprofessional training. At UCSF, she leads one of the nation’s premier internal medicine residency programs, shaping the next generation of physicians.