General Surgery Residency
An Introduction from the Chairman
Richard J. Andrassy, M.D.
Denton A. Cooley, M.D. Chair in Surgery
Professor and Chairman, Department of Surgery
The training program in General Surgery is offered as part of the Department of Surgery at the The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. The Department includes the Divisions of General Surgery / LBJ, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Immunology and Organ Transplantation, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Urology, Elective General Surgery and Acute Care Surgery.
The General Surgery Residency Program provides five years of intense clinical work culminating in a Chief Residency year. Generally after the second or third post-graduate year, residents elect to enter one of several possible pathways. Basic science research experience is available as are rotations in clinical fields such as burn care, endoscopy/laparoscopic surgery, critical care and a variety of intramural and extramural research opportunities. The overall concept of our program is to train superior clinical surgeons, some of whom will pursue academic careers, either with a basic or clinical research base. Our residents have been uniformly successful in obtaining admission to post-graduate fellowship training programs of their choice.
An Overview from the Program Director
John R. Potts, III, M.D.
Professor of Surgery
Program Director in Surgery
Vice-Chairman for Education
Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education
Thank you for your inquiry regarding the General Surgery Residency Program at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. We take great pride in the accomplishments of our residency program since the establishment of our school some 25 years ago. The stature that we have achieved in that time is reflected in the fact that we receive several hundred completed applications each year from graduates of medical schools all across the United States. It is my privilege to introduce to you our program and what has made it so successful in such a short period of time.
Being situated in the fourth largest city in the nation and in the heart of the largest medical center in the world, the resources available to our residency program are immense. One of our great strengths lies in the diversity of clinical experience available to our residents. They rotate in a variety of hospitals—both public and private, and both general and highly specialized, as subsequently outlined in this brochure. With that variety there comes a large, dedicated and extremely capable faculty who bring with them national and international reputations for their expertise in many of the areas which constitute general surgery. For the individual resident in our program, the resources of the Texas Medical Center make it possible to design a course of study to best meet one’s future needs. Certainly, this applies to one’s clinical rotation schedule. Furthermore, we strongly encourage individuals to pursue a basic science or clinical research experience of at least one year during their residency and there is a wealth of opportunity for such research on the campus of the Texas Medical Center.
The General Surgery Residency Program is fully accredited by the Residency Review Committee (RRC) for Surgery of the ACGME. In order to gain such approval, we must meet certain standards spelled out by those governing bodies. In meeting those standards, we provide an equitable wage and an equitable benefits package of life, health, disability and professional liability insurance. We provide appropriate sleeping and meal facilities for all residents on duty and allow sufficient time off duty for the residents to remain physically and mentally refreshed despite the rigors of their assignments. We also provide a scholarly environment for our residents with readily accessible library and on-line computer facilities, a didactic curriculum of basic science and clinical topics and faculty members who are leaders in their fields. As defined by the American Board of Surgery, the field of general surgery encompasses a vast array of knowledge including that of anatomy, physiology, metabolism, immunology, nutrition, pathology, wound healing, shock and resuscitation. The general surgeon must be able to diagnose and treat, both operatively and non-operatively, problems of the alimentary tract, the abdominal organs, the breast, the skin and soft tissues, the vascular system, the endocrine system, a wide range of solid tumors, the injured patient and the critically ill patient. The surgeon should be able to employ all forms of endoscopy in the care of his or her patients. In addition, the general surgeon should have an understanding of the more common problems in specialized areas of surgery including cardiac, gynecologic, neurologic, orthopaedic and urologic surgery. We provide residents with a sufficient breadth and depth of preoperative, operative and postoperative experience in these areas not only to prepare them for certification as Diplomats of the American Board of Surgery but also to prepare them for careers in the practice of the broad scope of General Surgery.
The result is that our residents have been enormously successful in achieving their goals upon graduation. A few of our recent graduates have chosen to make their contribution through the private practice of general surgery. Others have moved directly into faculty positions. The majority, though, have pursued additional training in surgical subspecialties. They have been extraordinarily successful in obtaining fellowship positions in such disciplines as surgical oncology, organ transplantation, pediatric surgery and cardiothoracic surgery. We are proud of our residents, past and present, and the training they have received through this program. We feel certain that through them our program will significantly impact on the future of American surgery.
I would like to offer one final note. As you well know, there have been tremendous changes in recent years in the way medicine and surgery are practiced in the United States and there is every reason to believe that the landscape of medicine will continue to change for some time before a period of relative stability returns. It is, of course, vital to the future success of our individual graduates and to the future success of this residency program that we respond to those changes. We have been on the forefront of the evolution of minimally invasive surgery. We have an already large and ever growing number of lives covered by managed care contracts in carefully structured networks. In these and other important ways I believe that our faculty and the institutions which comprise our residency experience have positioned themselves to successfully negotiate the coming changes and to continue to produce the future leaders of American surgery.
Thank you, once again, for your inquiry about the surgical residency at UTHSC. We are pleased to have this opportunity to introduce to you our program and hope that you are stimulated to learn more about us through a trip to our campus for a personal interview.
Click here for a Power Point Presentation (14 MB) on the Surgery Residency Program at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
Houston is a young city, statistically and in terms of outlook: the average age of its nearly two million residents is less than 26 years old. It is growing...adding to its population every day... and yet keeping an easy lifestyle.
And what’s more, the cost of living is still low. Houston ranks 7th lowest in a list of 40 major U.S. metropolitan areas. Achieving national headlines during the moon shot days, and more recently the Economic Summit and the 1992 Republican convention. Houston has moved increasingly into the national and international consciousness. It is a prime mover in the energy industry, space programs and cultural affairs. It is an economic stronghold; its Sunbelt location, the Texas tax structure and a balanced industrial base (agriculture, ranching, oil tool production, shipping, manufacturing) add to Houston’s image.
It claims 30 colleges and universities within the city limits and partakes of related cultural events and sports rivalries. Houston has a variety of cultural centers to house its symphony and ballet companies and supports a nationally recognized repertory group, The Alley Theater. The city also hosts 48 foreign consulates and has become a stopping point for foreign heads of state on U.S. visits. Within walking distance of the Medical Center is an outdoor theater, the zoo and several museums, including the Children’s Museum and the newly erected Museum of Health and Medical Science.
Recreation opportunities are abound in Houston. Ranging from football and baseball at the air-conditioned Astrodome and soccer, hockey and basketball at the Summit, to five municipal golf courses, along with many city-wide parks, pools and tennis courts. Within an hour’s drive are the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and not much farther is the ranch, lake and hill country of central Texas. In Houston, the possibilities are endless.
The Texas Medical Center is virtually a city within a city. The people, the buildings, and the land in the Medical Center are dedicated to patient care, medical and health education and research on a non-profit basis.
The member institutions make up an international medical community where people come from all over the world to receive treatment.
The Texas Medical Center also is a corporate entity in itself, providing services to its member institutions in much the same way as the City of Houston provides services to its two million-plus residents.
The center is comprised of 600 acres, most of which is located four miles south of Houston’s central business district. Facilities include 14 hospitals with 6,675 licensed beds, two medical schools, four schools of nursing and additional facilities for medical and health education, research, and support services such as security, parking, child care and utilities.
As a group, the Texas Medical Center institutions constitute the largest employer in Houston with 50,000 employees. More than 2.3 million patients visits are recorded annually. The average number of people throughout the medical center on a daily basis is 107,000, about the same number of people found in may mid-sized American cities.
The University of Texas Medical School at Houston:
The University of Texas Medical School at Houston was established by the Texas Legislature in June of 1969. The first class of 19 entered in 1970. By 1979, class sizes of 200, as mandated by the Texas Legislature, were the norm. The medical school offers MD, MD/PhD, MD/MPH degrees and is fully accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.
UTHSC Houston is a member of the Texas Medical Center — a comprehensive medical complex with 41member institutions. This includes Hermann Hospital, a 650-bed facility with a Level I trauma center that is the primary teaching hospital affiliated with UT-Houston. Teaching faculty includes the approximately 640 full-time faculty, 111 part-time faculty and 1,414 voluntary faculty at UTHSC.
The Jesse H. Jones Houston Academy of Medicine - Texas Medical Center Library is the largest medical library in the southwestern United States and a major resource for the UT-Houston Medical School with over 250,000 volumes, 4,429 journal subscriptions and 1,803 audiovisual items. In addition, it offers a broad range of information retrieval and reference services. TexSearch provides free on-line access to several million citations contained in the entire MEDLINE database. Library card holders can access On-line from home or office computers or in the library itself.
Hermann Hospital is the primary teaching hospital for the University of Texas Medical School at Houston - UTHSC. The Hospital is immediately adjacent to the medical school and is connected to the UTHSC main building on all floors. The Hospital is a private, nonprofit institution founded under a testamentary trust by Houston philanthropist George H. Hermann. In 1968 the hospital affiliated with UTHSC and became its primary teaching facility. It also serves as a teaching hospital for the other members of The University of Texas Houston Health Science Center. By expanding its mission to include education, Hermann Hospital offers physicians-in-training a broad variety of experiences while providing a level of patient care that is at the forefront of medical practice today.
Under the terms of an affiliation agreement between the Board of Trustees and the Regents of the University of Texas, members of the hospital’s active staff hold faculty appointments in the medical school.
The first hospital in what is now the Texas Medical Center, Hermann formally opened its doors on July 1, 1925. In the ensuing years it has grown from a community hospital to a facility that is capable of providing tertiary care for the southeast Texas area.
Its 464,000 square feet house six patient floors and many of the hospital’s ancillary departments. New surgical suites have been added to existing facilities to bring the total to 17 operating rooms and two cystoscopy rooms. The Department of Diagnostic Radiology located here is equipped with two full-body CT scanners, ScoutView, and other up-to-date radiologic devices. The Division of Nuclear Radiology performs the entire range of functional and physiologic studies, using radioactive isotopes. The hospital also houses a Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center. The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine provides sections for Chemistry, Hematology, Microbiology, Diagnostic Immunology, Surgical Pathology and a Blood Bank. The Pharmacy, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Electrocardiography and Electoencephalography are also housed in the Jones Pavilion.
The hospital’s Emergency Center, rated a Level 1 Trauma Center, receives large numbers of trauma patients transported by ground ambulance and by the three Life Flight helicopters, which are based on the hospital’s John S. Dunn Helistop. The highly successful Life Flight program provides air ambulance service, not only to Houston, but also for the entire upper Gulf Coast and Southeast Texas.
In order to care for the large number of emergency patients, the hospital has completely equipped intensive and intermediate care units for surgical, medical and pediatric patients, a cardiac care unit and a neurological surgery intensive care unit.
Patient care units at the Hospital include: The Texas Kidney Institute at Hermann which provides complete renal care services for children and adults, including surgery, inpatient dialysis and transplants. The center is among the largest kidney transplant centers in the country. The Hermann Burn Center, which uses a multi-disciplinary approach to treat burn injuries, including reconstructive and microvascular surgery and a human skin bank. Hermann’s obstetrical patients now benefit from the Birthing Suite, Rooming-In, Joint Recovery and patient education programs offered in the Family Center.
Annually the hospitals admissions are 28,000 patients; there are over 42,000 emergency room visits, 13,500 surgical procedures and over 65,000 outpatient visits. The hospital records over 5,300 births annually.
Throughout its long history, Hermann Hospital has been committed to the education and training of physicians. Its residency programs have operated continuously since the hospital opened in 1925. The affiliation with the medical school enables the Hospital to provide clinical experience for 800 medical students and over 750 residents in 25 ACGME accredited training programs. In addition, the hospital provides clinical experience for trainees in more than 15 subspecialty fellowship programs, the University of Texas School of Nursing, Medical Technology, the Schools of Physical Therapy of Texas Woman’s University and The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
Lyndon Baines Johnson General Hospital:
The newest affiliate of The University of Texas Medical School at Houston is the Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital, a full-service general hospital that opened in mid-1989 and is owned and operated by the Harris County Hospital District.
The new teaching hospital allows expansion of the school’s educational, research and clinical programs in a public setting. It adds valuable strengths to the UTHSC educational program by providing experiences complementary to those previously in programs of the private inpatient setting. Also, there will be excellent opportunities for clinical research at the hospital and for an academic research facility to be located there.
UT Medical School and Baylor School of Medicine have formed a not-for-profit corporation, Affiliated Medical Services (AMS), which allows the hospital district to interact with both medical schools through a single contract. The AMS officers are UT Medical School and Baylor faculty members.
LBJ Hospital is located 12 miles northeast of the Texas Medical Center with easy access via US 59, a major expressway. It is on 20 acres of land and is considered part of the Texas Medical Center Campus. The Hospital has 430,800 square feet on four floors and 306 beds with the option of adding 200 more without disturbing ongoing operations.
The first floor houses the emergency room, the outpatient clinics and the Radiology Department. The labor and delivery rooms, obstetrical beds, alternative birthing center and all bassinets, including a neonatal intensive care unit, are on the second floor. A joint Medical-Surgical Intensive Care Unit, the six operating rooms, laboratory, heart station, EEG, GI and GU facilities, two surgical patient units and one medical unit are on the third floor. In addition to the six operating rooms, there are two operating rooms for caesarean sections. The surgical suite, which also will handle day surgery patients, includes nine inpatient recovery beds and six outpatient recovery beds. The fourth floor contains two pediatric units, one medical unit, occupational and physical therapy departments and administrative offices.
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center:
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center ranks as the world’s most respected comprehensive centers, with 246,000 people having been treated there since it opened in 1944. Cure is the ultimate goal of all patient care efforts at Anderson. When the Center first opened, less than one in four cancer patients could hope for a cure; today, the five-year survival rate for patients with all forms of cancer is more than 50 percent. Some 1,700 outpatient visits occur daily, eliminating the expense and confinement of a hospital stay.
Patients in each of the clinical subspecialty training areas provide clinical trainees with experience in the natural history, techniques of diagnosis, appropriate therapy and management of malignancies. During their rotation at Anderson, the resident will have a concentrated exposure to complex inpatient management problems and will gain a recognition of the treatability of cancer and of the value of its aggressive clinical management.
Active participation in the ongoing clinical research process provides an unusual opportunity to observe problems relating to investigation and to acquire the habits of accurate information collection and of careful review of collected clinical data.
Eleven basic science departments have post-graduate training programs, and also participate in degree programs offered by the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. These departments support the clinical programs through collaborative research projects and by participation in education programs, seminars and conferences.
Additional education opportunities at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center revolve around a comprehensive program of clinical conferences, a 50,000 volume library emphasizing oncology and two national recognized annual symposia.
For nearly a century, Memorial Hermann-TMC has been a leading health care provider for the greater Houston and southeast Texas communities. Today, Memorial Hermann facilities and programs include nine acute care hospitals and two long-term acute care hospitals, a physician network for primary and specialty care, retirement living and nursing homes, wellness programs, rehabilitation and home health programs, and an air ambulance service. Through our integrated programs and services, we address not just physical health, but the emotional, social and spiritual well-being of all those whose lives we touch. In 2003, Memorial Hermann was designated as a Gold Well Workplace by the Wellness Councils of America.
Memorial Hermann Healthcare System is currently expanding the community's access to quality health care, where demand has been particularly acute in Memorial Hermann's emergency, intensive care and surgery services. New patient towers, parking garages, surgical suites, labor and delivery beds and much more are being added to our hospital campuses through a $420-million expansion program. Additional expansions are also on the horizon.
St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital:
St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, located in the Texas Medical Center, was founded in 1954 through the efforts of Bishop Clinton S. Quinn and the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. Its mission is to provide quality, cost effective health care while advancing clinical expertise through education and research. With 949 licensed beds, St. Luke’s cares for an average of 28,000 inpatients, including more than 3,000 newborns, each year. In addition, the hospital annually receives more than 9,000 outpatient clinic visits and more than 19,000 emergency room visits.
The medical staff is made up of over 1,500 community based physicians and world-renowned specialists. More than 60 percent of the hospital’s active staff hold teaching positions at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston or Baylor College of Medicine. As a result of these affiliations, St. Luke’s cooperates in developing medical services and in training residents who rotate through the hospital.
Twenty-two clinical services bring patients from around the world for treatment in specialties such as Cardiovascular Surgery, Hand Surgery, High-Risk Obstetrics, and Urology. The most advanced imaging tools — ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, computed imaging, computed tomography and nuclear imaging — are used extensively at St. Luke’s. More than 117,000 diagnostic and therapeutic procedures have been performed in St. Luke’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, which is now the largest in the world. In addition, St. Luke’s scientist-physicians are working across fronts to find safer and more pain-free alternatives to traditional surgery through laser applications.
The House Staff Association (HSA) of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Affiliated Hospitals is composed of all residents in all graduate medical education programs; approximately 740 trainees represent 54 residency and subspecialty training programs.
The House Staff Association meets once monthly and has appointed representatives from various residency programs whom serve on the House Staff Council. The Council meets monthly with hospital and UTHSC representatives to aid in developing the policies which guides the affairs of the HSA.
Throughout the year guest speakers are invited to speak at the Life After Training Series on matters such as practice management, cost-containment, setting up practice and other areas of resident interest. The major function of the HSA is to provide a voice to the administration of the Medical School and its affiliated hospitals.
| Program Year | Annual* |
PGY-1 |
$44,310 |
PGY-2 |
$45,970 |
PGY-3 |
$47,010 |
PGY-4 |
$48,015 |
PGY-5 |
$49,225 |
PGY-6 |
$50,860 |
PGY-7 |
$52,360 |
*Effective date: 06/24/2010
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Former Resident Career Paths Following Graduation
Directions to the Texas Medical Center (map)
The Texas Medical Center campus is conveniently located on the southwest edge of downtown Houston, near freeways and major thoroughfares.
Printer-friendly version of maps and driving directions
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston is located at 6431 Fannin, Houston, TX 77030. Parking is available either in the Hermann Hospital Parking Garage at the intersection of Ross Sterling Drive and Fannin or in the TMC Parking Garage 4 at the end of Ross Sterling Drive behind Hermann Hospital (as indicated on the map).
Location & Contact
6431 Fannin Street
MSB 4.020
Houston, Texas 77030
Tel: 713-500-7200
Fax: 713-500-7213
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Angelica Lopez
Residency Coordinator III
The University of Texas Medical School at Houston
6431 Fannin Street
MSB 4.331
Houston, Texas 77030
Tel: 713-500-7216
Fax: 713-500-7239
We take great pride in the accomplishments of our residency program since the establishment of our school some 30 years ago. The stature that we have achieved in that time is reflected in the fact that we receive several hundred completed applications each year from graduates of medical schools all across the United States. It is my privilege to introduce to you our program and what has made it so successful in such a short period of time. "
John R. Potts, III, M.D.
Professor of Surgery
Program Director in Surgery
Vice-Chairman for Education
Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education
