Welcome
Message from the Chairman
Internal Medicine and
Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Training Programs
Internal Medicine
- Medicine/Pediatrics
- Clinical
Investigator Pathway
Conferences
-
Curriculum and
Goals and Objectives
How to Apply - Criteria for International Graduates
The Texas Medical
Center and Hospitals
Texas Medical Center
The University of Texas Medical
School at Houston
The Department of Internal
Medicine -
Clinical Settings and Inpatient Facilities
Memorial Hermann Hospital
- Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
- St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital -
Texas Heart Institute
Outpatient and
Ambulatory Facilities -
Emergency and Critical Care Facilities -
Houston
Houston - World-Class City
Message from the Chairman --- Philip R. Orlander, M.D.
In the heart of the Texas Medical Center, the Internal Medicine training program at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston integrates a dedicated teaching faculty with state-of-the-art technology to provide a model of care that is focused on learning from the patient. Conferences are designed to foster hypothesis generated inquiry among the housestaff in a collegial atmosphere. Each division has a robust fellowship program to supplement and support the teaching environment. The teaching hospitals affiliated with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston --- the Memorial Hermann Hospital, the Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital-Texas Heart Institute --- provide interns and residents with a large and diverse patient population, stimulating and unique training experiences, and the opportunity to apply new advances in Internal Medicine to their clinical practice.
Our training program emphasizes the application of evidence-based principles, the doctor-patient relationship, humanism, and professionalism in the practice of medicine. Each of these areas is supported by a dedicated faculty of physicians and scientists. The John P. McGovern M.D. Center for Health, Humanities, and the Human Spirit teaches ethics, professionalism, and the human, healing touch of medicine. The center for Clinical Research and Evidence-Based Medicine includes 17 faculty to promote clinical research of the highest quality, and offers courses at all levels of expertise. The Clinical Research Units for the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS) provide clinical, informatics, biostatistical, nutritional, laboratory and financial support services for new investigators, including residents and fellows. Electives in research are available upon request.
Our program continues to evolve and improve. Recently, we added a new division of Geriatric Medicine, led by Dr. Carmel Dyer who is nationally known for her work with elderly patients. This exciting venture includes comprehensive geriatric and palliative care services at Memorial Hermann and LBJ Hospitals. Our Cardiology division, under the leadership of Dr David McPherson, has expanded to include innovative imaging techniques applicable to clinical care. “In the division of infectious diseases, an NIH funded vaccine trials and evaluations unit (VTEU) focused on the enteroggregative and enterotoxigenic E. coli has been added to the existing large NIH- funded AIDS clinical trial group and NIH funded basic research in the area of bacterial pathogenesis”. Each of our other divisions has continued to grow in research, teaching, and clinical care activities as our training program responds to the educational needs of our trainees and the changing health care needs of the population we serve. Details on opportunities in the subspecialties are listed below. But what distinguishes our program is the enthusiasm of the faculty to teach in an open and friendly environment conducive to maximizing learning and fostering discovery.
Internal Medicine Residency Training
The clinical facilities available through the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and affiliated hospitals are among the finest in the world. Our residents experience a broad range of problems on a large volume patient base unparalleled in many other institutions. The curriculum, based on guidelines by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, includes intensive care unit, emergency room, general medicine inpatient, subspecialty-consult, and ambulatory rotations. The house staff directors plan a curriculum in advance for each house staff member with attention to individual career goals and aimed at successful certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Two elective months are available during the last two years of residency. Commonly chosen electives are sports medicine, radiology, ophthalmology, dermatology, interventional cardiology and other subspecialties. Some residents will pursue research projects during residency.
We offer a categorical three-year program in straight internal medicine, a one-year preliminary program for those specializing in other areas such as neurology and dermatology, and a four-year medicine/pediatrics training program. Upon completion of this residency, it is expected that residents will have managed, discussed and feel comfortable handling the entire range of general medical, subspecialty, and acute and chronic care problems that one would encounter in internal medicine. They should be proficient in an ambulatory setting, at performing diagnostic procedures appropriate to internal medicine.
A carefully planned structure of rotation months, conferences and a faculty committed to teaching, all in the setting of a large academic institution show our commitment to the house staff. We expect interest and dedication to quality patient care. In such an environment, it is possible for every dedicated and interested house staff member to attain his/her own highest potential during residency training and to acquire the tools and stimulation to continue learning and growing in medicine for the rest of his/her career.
An additional resource is a staff of people to support house staff, including three faculty members devoted to house staff matters and six chief medical residents. Upon completion, residents go on to subspecialty fellowships, research in clinical or basic science, private or group practice, academic teaching positions, corporate medicine positions, and health maintenance organization practices. The resources within the Texas Medical Center's forty-one institutions, The University of Texas Health Science Center, the Medical School, area universities (Rice and the University of Houston), and within the Department of Medicine, provide outstanding clinical facilities and patient base, learning opportunities and access to expertise of clinical and research scientists that are hard to match.
The house staff directors are Mark A. Farnie, MD, Director of Internal Medicine and Medicine/Pediatrics Training Programs; Eugene Boisaubin, M.D., Associate Director of Internal Medicine; and Kevin W. Finkel, M.D., Associate Director of Internal Medicine.
How to Apply
Applications to the Internal Medicine and Medicine/Pediatrics residency training programs will only be accepted through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). Paper applications will not be considered. Applicant must include letters of recommendation (LoR) from your medicine chair (AND Pediatrics chair for Medicine/Pediatrics applicants) plus two other letters from full time members of faculty, one of whom supervised you on a clinical rotation. UPPER LEVEL applicants must send a LoR from your program director plus the two other letters.
International Medical Graduates need to meet the following requirements: ECFMG Certificate, must be registered in the Match, minimum USMLE STEP I and II scores of 85, and six months of clinical experience in the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom. We support J-1 visas.
Aside from the COMLEX, all applicants with a degree of DO need to take USMLE exams.
We participate in the National Resident Matching Program and do not offer out-of-Match positions.
Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Training
The Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program at The University of Texas-Houston Medical School is at the forefront of its field. The program, over 15 years in existence, has graduated outstanding physicians in internal medicine and pediatrics. This program is unmatched in its facilities and patient base. The rotations include Memorial Hermann Hospital, Memorial Hermann Children's Hospital, Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital-Texas Heart Institute. The combination of inpatient and ambulatory experience is well blended and the goal is to train physicians to practice medicine for the entire family unit.
The program is four years in duration with a curriculum of 24 months in each department. The first twelve months is split into six month blocks and all provide meaningful patient responsibility months for accreditation, where the trainee is the primary physician and evaluates the patients first. The three subsequent years are arranged in three month blocks with much more emphasis on outpatient and consulting experience. There are three Intensive Care Unit months in medicine, two in pediatrics and six months of nursery, two of these being neonatal intensive care units. The didactic lectures are crucial to the learning experience and are held at noon, three to four times a week. The pediatric department offers conferences in perinatal medicine, ambulatory care, general pediatrics and emergency medicine. There are also monthly morbidity and mortality conferences as well as a differential diagnosis conference. They have also incorporated bimonthly support groups for the interns and residents. The research opportunities are limitless with training in both departments and these can be incorporated into the residency curriculum if desired. Subspecialization is also possible following residency in many areas. The goal is to train physicians to take care of a range of diseases occurring from the premature infant to the elderly patient.
There are approximately 81 combined programs in existence in the United States; the first began in 1961. Since that time the demand has continued to increase. The program enables one to become board eligible in both pediatrics and internal medicine. We have a Director that is a graduate of a combined medicine/pediatric residency program, which in itself is a major asset. We have a combined ward team which admits both adult and pediatric patients to the same team. This helps the residents in transition from one service to the other and in so doing will free up one month for elective time. Sixty-four percent of graduates go on to a primary care settings, twenty-one percent go on to subspecialty training and four percent into emergency medicine programs.
The Clinical Investigator Pathway
For physicians planning careers in biomedical research, our program offers a Clinical Investigator Pathway, designed to provide intensive research training as an integral part of the residency experience. This program is approved by the American Board of Internal Medicine. The curriculum of the Clinical Investigator pathway will be individualized, to fit the background and educational needs of the trainee.
Its basic outline is the following: PG-1 year: identical with that of the categorical internal medicine residency. The PG-2 year is another full year of clinical training in internal medicine, with emphasis on the fundamentals of general internal medicine and on meaningful patient responsibility.
Following the two clinical years are two or three years of full-time research, under the direction of a research supervisor. The research may be conducted in one of the laboratories of the Department of Internal Medicine, the Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, a basic science department of the Medical School, or elsewhere as arranged by the trainee and research supervisor. The trainee can maintain clinical skills by a participation in a continuity clinic appropriate for his/her stage of training. One or two years of clinical training in a subspecialty. After the PG-1 year, the clinical and research training may be undertaken in any sequence.
Candidates for the Clinical Investigator Pathway must have documented superior clinical performance. Their admission into the pathway and arrangements for research must be approved in advance by the Department Chairman, and by the American Board of Internal Medicine, prior to completion of clinical training in internal medicine.
Individuals who wish to pursue the Clinical Investigator Pathway should apply to and match with the Categorical internal medicine residency program (NRMP #292316). A resident who desires to enter this pathway should discuss his or her plans with the Program Director and Chairman, no later than December of the PG-2 year.
Departmental Conferences
Conferences are an integral and important part of the training programs and allow exchange of ideas in a high level academic environment. A full schedule of conferences is available including daily Morning Report at all of the inpatient institutions. To see our weekly conference schedule, please click on this link.
The weekly conferences include the Clinicopathologic Conference where a case is the basis for discussions about a clinical problem and its differential diagnosis. At these, we have the benefit of evaluating the outcome of workup, diagnosis, and treatment of individual patients at one of our facilities.
Grand Rounds consists of an in-depth presentation and discussing an important medical topic led by one of our faculty or an individual speaker.
The Senior Seminar allows upper level residents a chance to research medical topics of their choice and present them to their colleagues.
The Core Curriculum Lectures, presented by members of the full-time faculty, are covered as assigned readings in a textbook of internal medicine. Over a three-year period, this lecture series covers the entire textbook.
Morning Report is held six days a week.
During the early months of the year, Emergency Medicine seminars are held to prepare new house staff to manage acute medical problems. There is also a Journal Club. All subspecialties hold conferences, then jointly with other Texas Medical Center institutions, where complicated and special problems of treatment are examined.
Memorial Hermann Hospital sponsors presentations covering professional and business development, practice management, and medicolegal issues.
Conferences at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center cover cancer screening and the management of common malignancies. A weekly Faculty Research Conference allows in-depth discussion of clinical and basic research topics by faculty in the department, school, local institutions and internationally.
Texas Medical Center
The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is the largest cluster of medical and health institutions in the world; virtually a city within a city. TMC is the largest group employer in Houston with over 50,000 employees. More than 2.3 million patient visits are recorded annually. An average of 107,000 people pass through the TMC daily, equaling the population of many cities in the U.S. TMC is one of three metropolitan clusters in Houston, the others being Downtown and the Galleria area. TMC was founded in the 1940's, at a time when the Houston Ship Channel was developed to the Gulf of Mexico, making the city a major shipping and trading port. The site bought from the City of Houston lay close to Hermann Park and across a boulevard from Rice University.
The Texas Medical Center encompasses more than 600 acres of land with a comprehensive medical complex of 41 institutions including 15 hospitals with more than 6,600 licensed beds. All institutions are dedicated to patient care, education and research on a non-profit basis. There are two medical schools in the Center and many institutions with specialized interests. It is an international center for patient referral and health professions training. The Houston Academy of Medicine - Texas Medical Center Library, a medical library with more than 3000 journals, over 221,000 bound volumes, books, audiovisuals and computers is a valuable resource.
The University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center (UT-HHSC) is the largest educational institution in the TMC. The Medical School is one of six schools and several interdisciplinary centers, institutes and programs that comprise the UT-HHSC. The School of Public Health, created in 1967, for public health education and disease prevention, is the only school of public health in Texas. The other components are The Dental Branch, The School of Nursing, The School of Allied Health Sciences, The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Harris County Psychiatric Center and the Mental Sciences Institute.
Researchers, clinicians, epidemiologists, and basic scientists all gain from the collaborative environment, collective resources and expertise provided by the many facilities and expertise within the UT system. Additional resources available within the UT system include housing, child care, health care, and recreational facilities.
The UT/TV system gives doctors the capability of broadcasting their expertise and assistance to other institutions in the world. This network produces educational programs and televises conferences from the medical school to be broadcast via satellite to affiliated hospitals, providing access to those on rotations away.
The University of Texas Medical School at Houston
The University of Texas Medical School at Houston (UTMSH) was established on June 13, 1969, as the fourth public school of medicine in The University of Texas System. In June of 1971, the first entering class of thirty-two students formally convened. In 1972, the Freeman Building opened, named after John H. Freeman who helped secure over 200 acres of the land on which the Texas Medical Center now stands. The new building was dedicated by George Bush, then the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, who gave the keynote address. The fall of 1976 saw the opening of the current Medical School Main Building. It physically connects to Hermann Hospital, the primary teaching hospital. A final modification to the school's structure, the cyclotron, was completed in 1983 and is in the front of the building. Conference facilities are extensive with support by departments of Graphic Communications and Conference Operations.
The medical school's fourteen clinical departments provide a full and comprehensive complement of inpatient and outpatient services. The school's Affiliated Residency Training Programs represent twenty specialties and subspecialties and train more than 800 residents. The school has M.D., M.D./Ph.D. and M.D./MPH degree programs. The university fosters collaboration in research between students, faculty, basic scientists and clinicians. International exchange of faculty and students also occurs. The education of physicians and generation of new knowledge are equal objectives of the UT-HMS which now has more than 2,500 alumni.
To learn more about the UT Medical School and its Formula for Success, please click on this link.
The Department of Internal Medicine
Internal Medicine has the largest number of students, house staff, fellows and faculty rotating on its clinical services of any Department at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. The house staff directors and Chairman have a deep commitment to making this program the strongest training experience available for physicians to become Internal Medicine and Subspecialty Board eligible. The department's faculty are committed to clinical teaching, providing excellent patient care, supporting research and academic investigation, and fostering the potential of medical students and physicians in training. In recruiting house staff, fellows, faculty, private teaching physicians, and scientific investigators, we strive to find individuals who value academic excellence, who work as a team, who help others develop ideas, and who are committed to humane and excellent patient care.
All students in the third and fourth year medical school classes rotate in Internal Medicine. Medicine fourth year subspecialty electives, acting internships and ambulatory rotations are popular at this school. Faculty in the Department of Internal Medicine are directors for basic science courses. These courses, such as Physical Diagnosis and the Fundamentals of Clinical Medicine, discuss clinical reasoning. The Department of Internal Medicine has about 110 full time faculty members and approximately 100 clinical faculty physicians.
The Department is headquartered on the first floor of the Medical School Building with division offices and research laboratories located in this and the adjoining Freeman Building. Diagnostic labs for procedures are located in the clinical inpatient facilities. Patients are seen in departmental clinics and inpatient facilities. House staff and fellowship training programs carry on activities at all the facilities. The Department also has offices within the L.B.J. General Hospital.
Faculty members author and edit many books specializing in areas of medicine, and they make contributions to major textbooks of medicine. Many of the faculty serve on editorial boards for major scientific and medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Circulation, Journal of Applied Physiology, and Heart and Lung.
Clinical Settings and Inpatient Facilities
The Department of Internal Medicine has four affiliated teaching hospitals with medicine services that admit and care for patients. Memorial Hermann Hospital, a hospital with public and private patients, has an average census of 140 patients on general medicine, subspecialty, cardiology, and intensive care unit services. Lyndon Baines Johnson General Hospital, a county hospital for public patients, averages 100 inpatients on general medicine and intensive care unit services. These two major teaching hospitals have busy emergency and trauma centers where medicine house officers see patients.
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, one of the foremost centers for cancer care in the world, has approximately 50 patients on the teaching service with additional ambulatory and consult rotations. Consultation services see patients at all three of these facilities. Ambulatory clinics operate at these hospitals as well, in addition to other clinic facilities.
The remaining inpatient facility, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital-Texas Heart Institute, has primarily private patients. Patient care is supervised by community based physicians. There are approximately 50 patients on general medicine, cardiology and nephrology services followed by medicine house staff, fellows and students.
Memorial Hermann Hospital
Memorial Hermann Hospital is a private, non-profit, nonsectarian, teaching institution established in 1925. It serves as the primary teaching hospital of The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. It was the first institution built on what is now the Texas Medical Center. The hospital, named after George Hermann who left it as a part of a trust, overlooks Hermann Park.
Hermann consists of four pavilions: the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cullen Pavilion, constructed in 1925; the Robertson Pavilion, finished in 1948; the Jones Pavilion, opened in 1977, and the new Hermann Pavilion, opened in 1999.. The four interconnected buildings comprise over a million square feet of space. The Cullen Pavilion, newly renovated and restored to its original grandeur, accommodates medicine beds almost exclusively.
Hermann is a Level 1 Trauma Center, equipped to handle any emergency situation. House Staff may accompany some Life Flight missions. Hermann offers specialized facilities including the Hermann Burn Center, The Texas Kidney Institute which provides extensive care for all stages of kidney disease, The University Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center at Hermann, and three cardiac catheterization laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art technology and staffed by a highly qualified team. The Hermann Heart Center is a newly built and expanded area occupying over 10,000 square feet for non-invasive cardiac tests and cardiac rehabilitation. Laboratories for gastroenterology and pulmonary procedures are also fully equipped and on the leading edge of diagnostic capabilities. A Hyperbaric Medicine Center for treatment of barotrauma and other conditions is on site. The Toxic Fume Inhalation Center for treatment of victims of accidents that occur around toxic or flammable substances has been established as an adjunct to Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Hermann Hospital, which provides a full range of services for industrial clients. The University of Texas/Hermann Hospital Gallstone Treatment Center offers a multi-disciplinary approach to treatment of gallstones including extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy.
Hermann Hospital also has clinical research facilities. The University Clinical Research Center at Hermann Hospital has been funded in part by the National Institutes of Health. Currently, active protocols include studies of obesity, osteoporosis, hypertension, heart disease, blood clotting problems, Marfan's Syndrome and infectious diarrhea. At the Center for Cardiovascular and Imaging Research, positron emission tomography (PET) is being used as a diagnostic and research tool for quantitative pictures of the function, metabolism, and blood flow to the heart, brain, and other organs.
There are four general internal medicine services caring for patients of private physicians and full-time faculty. Each house staff team takes night call every fourth day. There are four cardiology services each admitting every fifth day to the cardiac care unit and cardiology wards. The intensive care unit (ICU) team admits every third day to the 16 bed ICU. There are subspecialty teams for oncology and nephrology patients. Float teams at night cover the teams not on call. All divisions have active consultive services with fellows, residents, and students. Patients are admitted to Hermann from private and academic faculty clinics, house staff panel clinics, the emergency center, and upon transfer from outlying areas of Texas, as well as the world.
Hermann Hospital and the Medical School work closely together. This is symbolized in the physical plant, with each floor of the Medical School connecting to the hospital. This provides easy access and readily available support from the academic faculty and convenience for house staff and students who attend conferences. Clinical faculty are based in nearby private offices, many in Hermann Professional Building, just across the street, and connected by a bridge over Fannin Street. Private internists utilize this proximity to supervise care of their patients by medicine house staff while they participate in the academic community.
Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital
The Lyndon Baines Johnson General Hospital (LBJGH), is a full-service general hospital which opened in mid 1989. The University of Texas took over its professional staffing in July 1990. It is owned and operated by the Harris County Hospital District to handle patient care for the northern half of the county, which has over 300,000 residents registered for services. The LBJGH is located on the 610 Loop, twelve miles north-northeast of the medical school. This teaching hospital allows expansion of the school's educational, research and clinical programs. Its volume of public patients with severe disease provides experiences complementary to those in the Department's other clinical facilities. .
The hospital has 430,800 square feet on four floors, with 306 beds, a joint medical-surgical intensive care unit, six operating rooms, laboratories, a heart station for non-invasive cardiac tests, and a suite for gastroenterology and pulmonary procedures. State of the art technology and equipment are available for monitoring patients and performing procedures. Most patient rooms have four beds, and the remaining rooms have one bed for isolation. There are 16 intensive care unit (ICU) beds and 16 monitored intermediate care beds.
There are four general internal medicine services, each on call every fourth day. Each team of two residents, two to three interns, and several students follows from 18-25 patients. There are also ICU and cardiology services. Full-time Medicine faculty make teaching rounds daily. All faculty in the department attend at LBJGH. The Medicine Clinic on the first floor sees hospital follow-ups and internal medicine consultations. All subspecialties have weekly clinics. Consultations are active at LBJGH. Medicine house staff rotate in the emergency room as well.
Morning report and bedside teaching are conducted five days a week by Dr. Herbert Fred, Professor of Medicine who was formerly in charge of the medicine service at Ben Taub General Hospital at Baylor College of Medicine. There are daily noon conferences on site. Two chief residents are on site, staffing two medicine teams and performing some staffing duties in the emergency center.
Dr. Herbert Fred is the Clinical Chief of Medicine at the LBJGH. The Administrative Chief of Medicine is Dr. Kevin Finkel, an Associate Professor in the Division of Renal Disease & Hypertension. Dr. Finkel is also an Associate Program Director.
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
The M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), established in 1941 to serve Texans with cancer, is part of The University of Texas System and was the first member institution of the Texas Medical Center. It was named after Monroe D. Anderson, a wealthy cotton broker who created a foundation to help institutions foster patient care and dissemination of knowledge. The activities of the MDACC in cancer care, research and education of health care professionals and the public are recognized worldwide. This referral center attracts patients from Texas and around the world. The MDACC has more than 400 faculty. There are strong support services for the diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients with cancer and related disorders. There are more than 500 inpatient beds, including laminar flow rooms and medical and surgical intensive care units. Each year there are more than 17,000 inpatients admitted and more than 500,000 outpatient visits. A new 726,000 square foot patient care and research complex opened in 1999.
Educational activities at the MDACC are integrated with those at the Medical School. The Division of Medicine at MDACC has sections of cardiology, hematology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, infectious diseases, and immunology. Students, house officers, and fellows participate on inpatient, consultive, and ambulatory teaching services staffed by members of the M.D. Anderson and UT Medical School faculties. The emergency center and ambulatory center are staffed by internists who trained at UT-HMS.
At MDACC, residents attend daily morning report, as well as subspecialty conferences. For some conferences house staff and students return to the medical school, just a short minute walk down the block.
At MDACC, more than 400 controlled clinical trials are in progress. Areas of active clinical investigation include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and new modes of drug delivery.
St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital - Texas Heart Institute
St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital (SLEH) is a private, nonprofit general medical and surgical hospital with active educational programs. SLEH is in the Texas Medical Center. Internal Medicine residents and students see patients on the general internal medicine, nephrology and cardiology services under the supervision of private physicians. There is a full range of educational conference, including a multidisciplinary morning report.
The Texas Heart Institute (THI), affiliated with and located within St. Luke's was chartered in 1962. It is an international referral center for cardiology and cardiac surgery. More that 73,000 open heart procedures and 24,000 vascular procedures have been performed at the THI. It has the largest suite of cardiac catheterization laboratories in the world. The THI operated one of the three largest cardiac transplantation programs in the world, as well as one of only two NIH-funded programs for the development of an implantable artificial heart.
SLEH and THI are closely affiliated with the UT Medical School. Dr. Willerson, President of the Universith of Texas Health Science Center is also Director of Cardiovascular Research at THI and Chief of Cardiology at SLEH.
Outpatient and Ambulatory Facilities
Residents in the Department see patients at various outpatient clinics. The Hermann Professional Building, across the street from the Medical School, houses the General Medicine clinic, as well as various subspecialty clinics.
In the General Medicine clinic residents are paired with faculty members. Residents see subspecialty outpatients as part of their consultation months, and general medicine patients on the ambulatory rotation.
The Thomas Street Clinic, opened in May of 1989, is an outpatient facility for patients with HIV. This stately building located just north of downtown Houston, was given lease-free to the Harris County Hospital District. It was built in 1910 as a hospital for the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway Company. There are over 1,000 patient visits each month; staffing is provided jointly by The University of Texas Medical School's Department of Medicine and Baylor College of Medicine. Patients are hospitalized at LBJGH or Ben Taub, the two county inpatient facilities. Clinical research on diagnosis and treatment of HIV-related illness is ongoing. Some procedures can be performed on site. Faculty, fellows, chief medical residents, house staff and students on infectious disease, general medicine, ambulatory, rheumatology and pulmonary services rotate to the clinic a few days each month.
The Good Neighbor Clinic is also a Harris County Hospital District clinic. It is a general medicine clinic serving adults and children.
There is also a General Medicine clinic located within the LBJ General Hospital for patients of the Harris County Hospital District.
Every resident has a continuity clinic one-half day weekly. Most continuity clinics are in the General Internal Medicine Clinic at the Hermann Professional Building. Some residents choose to have their continuity experiences at Internal Medicine Clinic at LBJ or through the Good Neighbor Clinic.
Emergency and Critical Care Facilities
There are many opportunities to learn evaluation and management of acute and critically ill medical and cardiac patients within the facilities. Rotations in the emergency centers are scheduled in each of the years of house staff training. House staff are the primary evaluators and managers of patients under the supervision of emergency medicine faculty, chief medical residents, and medicine fellows.
The LBJGH emergency room has approximately 150 visits each day by adult patients needing primarily medical and surgical care. A wide variety of patients provides experiences that can give competence in the emergency management of any situation.
Medical intensive care units at Hermann and LBJGH provide a level of activity and range of experiences in critical care management that provide clinical competence and subspecialty training for house staff. The modern facilities, monitoring equipment and highly qualified support staff make quality patient care and learning possible. The supervision and teaching by subspecialists in these areas ensures that educational objectives are met. An environment where fellows are learning and participating in care also fosters learning.
Houston - World-Class City
Houston is America's fourth largest city, due in large part to the shipping industry and the growth of the cotton and oil industry in Texas. It is the largest port in the world, that is not on the water.
In this city, health care is also a major industry. Patients come for expert opinion and treatment from all over the world. The Intercontinental Airport is a link to many major cities and countries, and Hobby Airport, provides easy access for domestic travelers and is close to the medical center.
This is an international business center. Houston was the site of the 1990 World Economic Summit on the campus of Rice University and was the location of the 1992 Republican National Convention. There are high-rise office buildings, parks, sculptures and fountains, historic homes and landmarks throughout the city. Cultural events, premier facilities and performances abound with five colleges (Rice University, the University of Houston, St. Thomas University, Houston Baptist University, and Texas Southern University), museums of art, science, and medicine, planetariums and the Wortham Center, which is the home of Houston's Grand Opera and ballet companies. The Houston Symphony performs in Jones Hall. The Alley Theater, the new Hobby Center, multiple small theater groups and comedy clubs provide theatrical and musical entertainment. The zoo, Astroworld, Galleria ice skating rink, Galveston and its historic Strand, Clear Lake, and Lake Conroe provide recreational diversions. Houston's Reliant Dome and Compau Center are home for professional sports, the Livestock Show and Rodeo, rock concerts and other year round entertainment.
Enclosed malls like the Galleria and quaint neighborhood shops are also located in Houston. Some of the country's finest restaurants provide culinary delights and offer various colorful surroundings in which to dine. The NASA Johnson Space Center is just a short drive away for those wanting diversions that are "out of this world".
The city features festivals year-round from various countries, and art exhibits that constantly vary; there are laser shows in the nighttime skies, fireworks on summer evenings at Astroworld, outdoor concerts and Shakespeare festivals on various weekends throughout the year in Hermann Park. Houston is in every way, a world-class city for educational and cultural growth.
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