Correct me if I got anything wrong (it's all a blur in my head at this point):
Highland is a county hospital serving 11 bay area cities and more than 1.6 million people. Residents also work out of Kaiser Hospital and Children's Hospital in Oakland as well as UOP Dental School in San Francisco. Residents also work with Dr. Indresano's patients at California Pacific Medical Center.
Highland is defined as a level II trauma center but my experience there and after flipping through the log books they get a very good trauma experience - comparable to a level I. They also get a good mix of midface and mandible -- there are no ENT or PLS residencies at Highland. They operate 2 scheduled days out of the week and additional days if needed. I believe they take head and neck trauma call everyday of the year. They treat fractures of the entire maxillofacial complex and are not limited by anatomy. Residents can take call from home, q3d (the frequency depends on what year resident you are). The OS clinic gets lots of 3rd IVSA cases and have a strong dentoalveolar experience. Prisoners from San Quentin and other local prisons come to Highland OS clinic for treatment of facial fractures, abscesses, ect. I feel like they get a great experience in pathology and secondary recon due to the patient population. Residents get some craniofacial experience on mission trips to South America during their chief year.Weakness: I think cosmetics isn't a strong point, but there is the opportunity to get exposure. Also, they don't do the more complicated malignant pathology cases.
Implants are done at Highland and UOP dental school. Dr. Bedrossian brings in complex implant cases and likes to use Zygomatic implants. The didactic program for implants is strong and the opportunity to see unique implant cases is possible due to Dr. Bedrossian's presence.
At Kaiser residents get a solid experience in orthognathics. They do all the work up, but then they get to cut a lot of the case. They are there for 4 months in both their 3rd and 4th years.
The faculty challenge the residents constantly and push them to be excellent. I think the faculty there are intense, but very good. They are not malignant by any means. I would trust Dr. Indresano to give me a good education and to make me a great surgeon. The residents get along, work well together, and aren't dorks (maybe that guy from Temple . . .
). The incoming chiefs are all would be great to train under. They have formal teaching rounds Tuesday - Friday, Grand Rounds once a week, an Implant seminar every Monday, and I think that's it.
Other pros: best salary and benefits in the country; its in the Bay Area; great, well rounded program. That's all I remember -- anyone who wants to add, go for it.