The Division of Rheumatology emphasizes excellence in teaching. Clinical and research training is available for medical students, house staff, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. All full-time faculty participate in ambulatory teaching/patient care activities. The goals of the teaching program are to provide our trainees “real-world” practical experiences in the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatic diseases in both the outpatient and inpatient setting, and through other educational activities allow trainees to gain a thorough understanding of the basic mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases.

The Inpatient Rheumatology Consult Service at Memorial Hermann Hospital/Memorial Children’s Hospital and LBJ General Hospital are the major inpatient rotation. The Rheumatology consult service typically sees 30-40 adult and pediatric consults per month in a tertiary care setting at the two major teaching hospitals.

The UT Rheumatology Clinic, LBJ Rheumatology Clinic and Thomas Street Clinic are the major outpatient rotations. The UT Rheumatology Clinic is a large regional referral service which sees over 6,000 outpatients visits per year. The Rheumatology clinic at LBJ General Hospital provides rheumatology subspecialty care to the residents of Harris County and has over 1,400 outpatient visits per year. The Rheumatology clinic at Thomas Street Clinic established in the 1990’s, provides rheumatology services to HIV patients, with over 300 patient visits per year.

In addition to clinical training, the Division provides the following conferences to complement the practical experiences in our clinics and consult services.

• Rheumatology Case Conference held at 7:30-8:30AM each Wednesday morning throughout the year. The forum is two case presentations by the fellow assigned to the Rheumatology consult service, which is discussed by the faculty, fellows as well as by the residents and students taking the Rheumatology Consult service
• Rheumatology Core Curriculum was established at UT in 2004 with the aim of reviewing the general concepts about the rheumatic diseases and about methodologies thereof. It is given by members of the rheumatology faculties of UT-Houston and Texas Children’s Hospital.
• Radiology Conference has taken place for the past 10 years currently at 7:30AM on the last Friday of the month. Basic concepts in musculoskeletal radiology are reviewed and cases examined in conjunction with the rheumatology faculty and a musculoskeletal radiologist.
• Dermatology/Rheumatology Clinical Conference was initiated by Drs. Jordon and Arnett in the 1980’s, this conference has long been focused on patients with dermatological manifestations of the rheumatic diseases. It is held the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7:30-8:30AM and is attended by faculty from the Dermatology Department and the Rheumatology Division and rheumatology fellows, as well as by Dermatology and Internal Medicine residents and students from UT-H and Baylor College of Medicine.
• Rheumatology/Orthopedic Surgery Clinical Conference was established initially in the 1980’s, this conference has recently been reinstated to provide a forum for case presentations germane to the Orthopedic issues facing patients with the rheumatic diseases. It meets quarterly on Wednesday morning at 7:30AM in lieu of the Rheumatology Case Conference, and is attended by the Rheumatology and Orthopedics faculty, the Rheumatology fellows and Orthopedic residents, and the internal medicine residents and student rotating on the Rheumatology Consult Elective
• The Rheumatology Division Journal Club is held every Friday (unless otherwise designated) morning at 7:30AM. Here pertinent articles from the basic and clinical science literature are presented by the fellows and reviewed by the faculty. Also in attendance are the rheumatology consult service residents and students.
• The TMC Rheumatology Conference held the 3rd or 4th Wednesday of every month at Trevisio in the Texas Medical Center Commons. This highly successful ACCME-accredited conference was made possible by unrestricted educational grants by various pharmaceutical companies. It is the only conference of its kind in the Houston-Galveston metro area and is attended by the Rheumatology faculty, fellows, residents and students of UT-Houston, the Baylor College of Medicine, the Texas Children’s Hospital, as well as many private rheumatologists from the Houston-Galveston area. The speakers are nationally known clinical researchers and clinician-scientists selected by the Houston rheumatology community to present their latest research in a way that is relevant to and/or impacts care of patients with rheumatologic diseases.

FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

The mission of the UT-Houston Rheumatology fellowship training program is to produce physicians that, are clinically competent in the field of rheumatology, are capable of working in a variety of settings, and possess habits of life-long learning to build upon their knowledge, skills and professionalism.

Our Division offers two and three year ACGME accredited fellowships designed to prepare individuals for careers in clinical or academic rheumatology. Two PGY4 positions are available each academic year. All fellows receive intensive clinical training over 2 years as well as research experience, including completion of at least one major research project (which can be either lab-based or clinical), over one to two years. We accept applications for fellowship positions through Electronic Residency Application Service only.

For international medical graduates, the University of Texas Medical School at Houston has adopted a policy of accepting into its graduate medical education residency program only those who are under J-1 visas sponsored by the Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).