Letter from the Chair

We are very enthusiastic about emergency medicine education! We believe emergency medicine is the most exciting, dynamic and challenging specialty in medicine. We are proud to be called emergency physicians and feel a great responsibility to care for “anyone, anytime.” To that end, we recruit exceptionally talented young physician colleagues.

Clinical practice at UCI Health is as diverse as the patient populations we serve. As a former county hospital, we continue to care for the underserved of Orange County, elevating the standard of care for our uninsured, underinsured, publicly insured or privately insured patients alike. Our patients present from public health clinics and private university practices, giving medical students and trainees the opportunity to participate in complex levels of care on every shift, all in the setting of a Level 1 Trauma Center, a STEMI and Stroke Center, and a Level I Geriatric Center of Excellence, which results in a diverse clinical experience inherent to training here. 

Our fully ACGME-accredited Emergency Medicine Residency program is a source of great pride for the department. Trainees graduate with excellent job prospects, and alumni have had careers in academics, administration and clinical practice in the most desirable emergency medicine groups and locations within Orange County and around the country. We also have a diverse array of fellowship programs, offering training in clinical informatics, multimedia design education technology, population health research, simulation, ultrasound, wilderness medicine and administration. 

The department also includes robust research programs in simulations to promote safer driving in adolescents and in the mechanisms of substance use disorders. We are also proud of our research publications, including the online journal Clinical Practice and Cases in Emergency Medicine, the Journal of Education & Teaching Emergency Medicine and the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. Innovation and scholarship are core to our mission. 

On a personal level, my roots run deep here at UC Irvine, where I graduated from college and later completed my residency in 2000. Since joining the faculty in 2001, UC Irvine has been my home.

Sincerely,

J. Christian Fox, MD

Department Chair
Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine