Curriculum highlights
About MCHD
Montgomery County Hospital District EMS provides all 9-1-1 response for one of the nation's fastest-growing counties. We cover 1,100 square miles and answer nearly 100,000 calls for service each year. We also provide medical direction for all 14 of Montgomery County's first-responder organizations and for the 9-1-1 dispatch center, allowing the EMS fellow to gain a true system-of-care perspective — from the first call-taker's keystroke to hospital discharge. This ground-based EMS experience is further augmented by longitudinal involvement with HCA AirLife.
MCHD is deeply embedded in the county's mass-gathering, disaster-response, and event-medicine framework. Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in Ironman Texas, The Woodlands Marathon, and regular MCI and disaster-response training exercises at both the local and regional levels.
At its core, the fellowship rests on our belief that an EMS medical director is, above all, a teacher and mentor. Fellows will have consistent field, classroom, and administrative exposure to EMTs and paramedics, developing their skills as bedside educators. Protocol development and quality assurance will likewise be central to fellow didactics. A successful medical director must balance advocacy for prehospital clinicians with the willingness to provide honest, constructive feedback.
Finally, MCHD EMS maintains a strong regional and national footprint in education and research, with multiple recent AAEM and NAEMSP abstracts and educational presentations, along with a track record of consistent peer-reviewed publications. The fellow will play a significant role in our annual cadaver lab training and on the MCHD Paramedic Podcast.
HCA AirLife
HCA AirLife provides aeromedical critical care transport to the greater Houston area, delivering advanced care to critically ill and injured patients across the region. Over the course of the fellowship year, fellows will integrate longitudinally with the AirLife program, gaining exposure to the clinical, operational, and safety considerations unique to the aeromedical environment. Fellows will participate actively in the program's quality assurance process, reviewing transport cases and contributing to ongoing performance improvement. For those interested, there is also the opportunity to serve clinically as a member of the flight crew, providing hands-on critical care during helicopter transport.
The Woodlands Fire Department
The Woodlands Fire Department (TWFD) is a robust, fire-based ALS first-response service and a key partner in the region's emergency care system. As part of the fellowship, the fellow will contribute to TWFD's quality assurance efforts and play an active role in the ongoing training and clinical development of the department's paramedics. During the orientation month, the fellow will spend several shifts riding on fire apparatus and responding to calls alongside TWFD crews, building a firsthand understanding of the capabilities, workflow, and challenges of fire-based first response.