Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Receives Accreditation for OB/Gyn Residency

Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center received national accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education for a new obstetrics-gynecology physician residency program. This is the first residency track ever in the East Bay for Sutter Health and one of the first OB/Gyn physician residency programs for the organization as well. It will significantly help expand access to high-quality care and distinguish the organization as a best place to practice medicine, conduct research, learn and receive care.

Obstetrics and gynecology, one of the main pillars of primary care, is an area of great opportunity and need. Historically primary care hasn’t attracted as many physicians compared to specialty medicine. A recent study affirmed the primary care workforce is not growing fast enough to meet healthcare needs. The study also cited how a lack of access to primary care can lead to health disparities and more chronic health concerns. This issue is compounded by a relative lack of trained obstetrician-gynecologists and the need for improved maternal health support — in California and beyond.

“Our community-based residency program will help overcome this challenge,” said Isabelle Cohen, M.D., an obstetrician-gynecologist who will oversee the physician residents as program director. “Our knowledgeable, experienced doctors and care teams will train and guide these resident physicians to address critical women’s health needs where they continually learn and elevate care and its delivery with confidence and compassion.”

Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center offers a dynamic setting for resident physicians interested in obstetrics-gynecology. The medical center and has been recognized for its award-winning pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum services. Physician residents will train at the Alta Bates Campus in Berkeley, the Summit Campus in Oakland, as well as Sutter’s California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.

Under the guidance of board-certified clinicians, physician residents will learn obstetrics care, labor and delivery, maternal-fetal medicine, minimally invasive and cancer surgery, urogynecology and family planning. Experience in reproductive endocrinology and infertility will be provided at Spring Fertility in Oakland, a renowned clinic in the field with locations across the country. Through outpatient clinic services, physician residents will also gain experience offering patients preventive medicine support.

Sutter Health is committed to addressing the health care access challenges facing patients in California by investing significantly in Graduate Medical Education programs. The integrated health system aims to train 1,000 physician residents and fellows each year by 2030 and create more academic partnerships to foster diverse clinical talent reflective of the communities it serves.

“Our system is set to become one of the largest community-based health care training institutions in Northern California,” said Lindsay Mazotti, M.D., Sutter Health’s chief medical officer of medical education and science. “Our vision for graduate medical education at Sutter is to develop compassionate, collaborative, diverse and innovative physician leaders who deliver the highest quality care and enhance the health of the patients and communities we serve.”

Recruitment of the OB/Gyn resident physicians will begin September 2025 via the National Residency Match Program. Four resident physicians will arrive at Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in July 2026. Three other resident physicians will arrive at the same time at Sutter Roseville Medical Center in Roseville, Calif., which also will have an OB/Gyn physician residency program. The California Department of Health Care Access and Information granted the funding for both programs through the state’s Song-Brown Healthcare Workforce Training Act.

For more information about Sutter Health’s growing graduate medical education programs, visit www.suttermd.com/education/gme.