About ACE-PC

In partnership with Kaiser Permanente Northern California, and with support from the American Medical Association’s Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative, the UC Davis School of Medicine offers an innovative three-year MD pathway for students committed to primary care careers, the Accelerated Competency-based Education in Primary Care (ACE-PC) program. Rather than the traditional seven-year pathway to primary care practice (four years of medical school followed by three years of residency training), ACE-PC students complete their MD in 3 years equipped with the knowledge and skills to directly progress into a partner PC residency and enter primary care practice one year earlier than traditional students.

The development of ACE-PC has been guided by input from multi-disciplinary faculty representing undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education and employer perspectives. The program recruited its first class in 2014. Prospective students are evaluated using the same holistic review and Multiple Mini-Interview as traditional applicants. Once admitted to the traditional class at UC Davis, ACE-PC applicants complete a panel interview to assess fit, commitment to PC and academic readiness. The program is limited to 6-8 students of an entering class of 120. Each year there are 300-400 applicants. Historically over 60% of ACE-PC students are from communities underrepresented in medicine (UIM) and 80% self-identify as disadvantaged on their AMCAS application.