Contact us
For any additional questions, please contact our program administrator.
Welcome to Our Fellowship
Thank you for considering the HCA Houston Healthcare/University of Houston (Clear Lake) Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship.
Our fellowship offers the opportunity to train in a high-acuity tertiary referral center with exceptional breadth in pulmonary and critical care medicine. HCA Houston Healthcare Clear Lake serves the large and rapidly growing population of Southeast Houston and the surrounding region, providing fellows with exposure to complex disease across a wide range of medical and surgical specialties.
Our clinical environment includes more than 80 intensive care beds, a Level II Trauma Center (very soon will be level I), 24/7 in-house intensivist coverage with two intensivists on site at all times, and both VA and VV ECMO capabilities.
Pulmonary training is supported by a comprehensive Interventional Pulmonology program and a state-of-the-art bronchoscopy suite, including the ION robotic bronchoscopy platform, rigid bronchoscopy, advanced diagnostic bronchoscopy, and therapeutic and ablative airway interventions.
Fellows also train alongside a comprehensive Neuroscience Center with dedicated Neurocritical Care and Interventional Neurology, high-volume cardiac surgery and cardiovascular critical care, structural heart and interventional cardiology programs, electrophysiology, and trauma and surgical critical care.
Our institution is also home to multiple residency and fellowship programs, creating a growing academic environment with a strong commitment to graduate medical education.
The result is a fellowship built around clinical volume, high-acuity pathology, procedural experience, and progressive autonomy.
Our Mission
Our mission is to train outstanding pulmonologists and intensivists who combine evidence-based medicine with sound clinical judgment, procedural expertise, and compassionate patient care.
By the completion of fellowship, our graduates will have the knowledge, experience, and independence necessary to practice high-quality pulmonary and critical care medicine in any clinical environment they choose.
About the Program
The HCA Houston Healthcare/University of Houston (Clear Lake) Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship provides three years of comprehensive training across the full spectrum of pulmonary and critical care medicine.
Pulmonary Medicine
Fellows encounter a broad range of pulmonary disease across inpatient, consultation, and high-volume outpatient settings.
A major strength of the program is advanced bronchoscopy and interventional pulmonology. Fellows train in a state-of-the-art bronchoscopy suite with exposure to:
- ION robotic-assisted bronchoscopy
- Radial and linear ultrasound-guided bronchoscopy
- Rigid bronchoscopy, airway balloon dilation and tracheal and bronchial stent placement
- Cryobiopsies for the workup of interstitial lung disease
- Medical pleuroscopy
- Ablative airway therapies including cryoablation, electrocautery and argon plasma coagulation
- Bronchoscopic lung volume reduction via endobronchial valve placement
- Tunneled pleural catheter
- Percutaneous tracheostomy
- Ultrasound-guided percutaneous gastrostomy
- Pulsed electric field, galvanized ablation for lung tumors
- Thoracostomy chest tube placement
Pulmonary training also includes a dedicated pulmonary function laboratory, pulmonary rehabilitation, a high-volume outpatient pulmonary practice, and a fully equipped sleep laboratory.
A dedicated simulation laboratory supports procedural education, critical care training, and the development of emergency management skills.
Critical Care Medicine
Critical care training takes place across more than 80 intensive care beds and encompasses a diverse, high-acuity patient population.
Fellows rotate through:
- Medical Intensive Care
- Cardiac Intensive Care
- Cardiovascular Surgical Intensive Care with a VV and VA ECMO program
- Surgical Critical Care
- Trauma Critical Care
- Neurocritical Care
With 24/7 in-house intensivist coverage and two intensivists on site at all times, fellows train in an environment that provides close faculty supervision while allowing for progressively increasing clinical independence. Fellows will be primary on airways in all of the ICUs.
The breadth of the institution allows fellows to manage complex medical, pulmonary, neurologic, cardiovascular, surgical, and trauma patients while developing the clinical judgment and procedural expertise required for independent practice.
Upon successful completion of the three-year fellowship, graduates will be eligible for board certification in both Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine.
Applicants must be board-eligible or board-certified in Internal Medicine.
Curriculum and rotation schedule
Our fellowship combines high-volume clinical training, structured didactics, procedural education, and scholarly activity across several complementary training sites.
Salary and benefits
| Year | Salary | On-Call Meals | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| PGY4 | $79,206 | $950 | $80,156 |
| PGY5 | $82,784 | $950 | $83,734 |
| PGY6 | $86,507 | $950 | $87,457 |
Benefits
- Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Disability Insurance
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Services
- Retirement: 401k (employer matching offered)
- Equipment: iPhone, Laptop, White Coat, Scrubs
- On-Call Meal Stipend: $950 per academic year
- Orientation Stipend: Up to $1,000 (not eligible for HCA transfers)
- 20 days PTO - Vacation/Sick Leave 6 weeks Paid Medical Leave