08/18/2025

Residency Spotlight: UC Davis/Travis AFB

Maj HoanVu Nguyen, MD, FACEP

Location: Sacramento, CA

Program Director: Lt Col R. Stuart

Assistant Program Directors: Maj A. Branting, Maj H. Nguyen

Program Length: 3 years

 

Highlights:

- Tertiary academic medical center

- Level 1 Trauma Center, Pediatric Surgery Center of Excellence, Comprehensive Stroke Center, STEMI receiving center, regional burn center, and poison control center covering northern California

- Diverse urban and rural population

- Critical access safety net hospital with 65+ bed emergency department with 97k visits per year, 30% admission rate, 7% critical care, 22% pediatrics

- Get exposure to, lead, and be part of 7.5k trauma activations, 250 chest tubes, 730 intubations, and 5.0k medical critical care activations per year

- Rotate through specialized training in pediatric anesthesiology, MICU, SICU, PICU, as well as HMO and community emergency department sites

- Regular and robust simulation experience at an American College of Surgeons Level 1 Accredited Simulation Center

- Ample research opportunities in global health, ultrasound, addiction medicine, and more at UC Davis or Aerospace Medicine and Space Operations at the DGMC Clinical Investigations Flight

 

What our graduates have done:

- Spearheaded the establishment of USAF space medical research capabilities and collaborated with NASA and Johnson Space Center

- Graduates recognized with USAF MAJCOM level awards: 2023 Pacific Air Forces Best Physician of the Year, 2024 Air Mobility Command Academic Physician of the Year, AMA International Award in Medicine

- Orchestrated and built workflows for Core Casualty Receiving Facilities as part of National Disaster Medical System

- Wrote Department of Defense Joint Trauma Service Clinical Practice Guidelines

- Invited to international lectures and symposia with NATO and ASEAN nations

- Ground Surgical Team and Critical Air Transport deployments

 

What our residents do for fun:

-Granite Bay and Beals Point Beach

-White water rafting, rock climbing, hiking in Auburn

-Sacramento Kings basketball games

-Skiing, camping, hiking at Lake Tahoe

-Paddleboarding, tubing at Lake Folsom

-Biking, fishing, kayaking on American River Trail

-Run club, farmers markets, Concerts in the Park, music festivals, outdoor yoga, state fair

-Visit San Francisco

-Napa Valley and Sonoma wine tastings/vineyard tours

-National Parks: Yosemite (3 hours), Sequoia (4 hours), Redwoods (5 hours), Lassen Volcanic (3 hours), Kings Canyon (3.5 hours), Pinnacles (3 hours)

 

For more information:

https://health.ucdavis.edu/emergency/education/residency/AirForce/index.html 

Contact Us: USAF.EM@health.ucdavis.edu