Training Institutions & Clinical Sites

Among the many strengths of the Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston - Medical School, are the affiliations with world-class teaching hospitals. The patients served by these hospitals represent a wide diversity of cultural, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds and, most importantly, provide a full range of clinical learning experiences.

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 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 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.

LBJ is a verified Level 3 Trauma Center and was the first Level 3 trauma center designated in the State of Texas. However, LBJ handles approximately three-to-four times the patient load of any other Level 3 trauma center in the region with more than 74,000 emergency patient visits each year, and more than 14,900 inpatient admissions.

The next closest trauma center, other than those in the downtown and medical center area, is approximately 35 miles away in Conroe. LBJ’s presence is the lifeblood of trauma care for the residents in this region of our community, providing access to more than 35 medical specialties.

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.

The Texas Heart Institute (THI), affiliated with and originally 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. Under the direction of Denton A. Cooley, M.D., St. Luke’s successful cardiovascular surgery record and THI’s advances against cardiac disease have brought international acclaim. St. Luke’s and the Texas Heart Institute have performed more than 100,000 open heart procedures, more than 200,000 cardiac catheterizations, and more than 25,000 cardiology interventions as an alternative to bypass surgery. In 2003, for the fourteenth consecutive year, St. Luke’s and THI were selected by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s best for heart care.

With the discovery of the polio vaccine in the ‘60s, the expertise developed by this nationally recognized respiratory center was applied to rehabilitating catastrophically injured patients. Much of what was learned in treating polio survivors would prove applicable to other disabling injuries and illnesses. Financial gifts from prominent Houston philanthropists made it possible to build a not-for-profit hospital in the Texas Medical Center, nestled in a thick grove of trees, just east of Baylor College of Medicine. On May 30, 1959, the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research was formally dedicated and began accepting patients.

Known today as TIRR (The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research), this leading institution continues to be guided by the principles and philosophies originally established by the Southwestern Poliomyelitis Respiratory Center. Dr. William Spencer changed the way society and health care responded to disability and rehabilitation. Today, TIRR changes lives by improving outcomes, offering hope and maximizing independence for those impacted by disabling injury or illness. It is the home base of our Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Residency Program.

The Methodist Hospital System is a nonprofit health care organization based in Houston, Texas. It has extended the world-renowned clinical and service excellence of its founding entity, The Methodist Hospital, through a network of community based hospitals.

A legacy of medical milestones has attracted patients from around the world to Methodist since 1919. In 1996, The Methodist Hospital System was established to extend Methodist’s health services beyond the Texas Medical Center and into communities throughout Houston. Its international physician referral network -- with information centers in Guatemala City and Mexico City and medical affiliations with hospitals spanning four continents -- has extended the Methodist reach into the world community as well.