Contact us
For any additional questions, please contact our program administrator.
Welcome from our team
Welcome to the Critical Care Medicine Fellowship at HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest, part of HCA Healthcare's Gulf Coast Division and affiliated with the University of Houston College of Medicine.
Our fellowship was created to train versatile, high acuity intensivists who are comfortable managing complex critical illness in any ICU environment. Fellows care for an exceptionally diverse and often underserved population drawn from a large catchment area in North Houston, gaining broad exposure to medical, neurologic, surgical, trauma, and cardiovascular critical care. As a growing academic center with residents, medical students, and multiple fellowships, we offer the advantages of both a high volume community setting and a rich teaching environment.
We value rigorous clinical training, bedside teaching, procedural excellence, and scholarship. Fellows are known by name, mentored closely, and invited to help shape the culture and evolution of the ICU and the fellowship itself.
About our program
The Critical Care Medicine Fellowship at HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest provides broad, integrated critical care training with several unique structural strengths:
Integrated Medical Critical Care model
Unlike many academic centers with fully siloed ICUs, nearly all critically ill patients—medical, neurologic, neurosurgical, cardiovascular, and perioperative—are managed within a unified Medical Critical Care Department, with a dedicated but closely collaborative trauma service. This structure allows fellows to see the full spectrum of critical illness in one cohesive environment.
Trauma and NeuroCritical Care
HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest is a Level II Trauma Center on a defined pathway toward Level I designation and is a Comprehensive Stroke Center. Fellows encounter high acuity trauma, complex stroke, neurosurgical, and neuroendovascular cases, both on core rotations and through trauma ICU experiences.
Advanced Cardiovascular Critical Care
Through rotations at HCA Houston Healthcare Medical Center, fellows train in a high volume cardiovascular ICU that cares for some of the sickest cardiac patients in the region. Fellows gain experience with cardiogenic shock, complex coronary and structural interventions, mechanical circulatory support (including VA/VV ECMO and Impella), and a developing durable LVAD and transplant program.
Procedural and ultrasound training
Fellows receive extensive experience in all core critical care procedures and point of care ultrasound, with a long term vision of preparing graduates for advanced critical care echocardiography in addition to board certification in Critical Care Medicine.
Our overarching goal is to graduate intensivists who are clinically excellent, procedurally confident, academically engaged, and comfortable practicing in community, academic, and quaternary referral ICUs.
Our Program Director and staff
| Year | Salary | On-Call Meals | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| PGY-4 | $73,341 | $950 | $74,291 |
| PGY-5 | $76,648 | $950 | $77,598 |
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
Curriculum Highlights
The fellowship curriculum is organized around core ICU experiences, supplemented by targeted electives that reflect the strengths of the institution and the interests of individual fellows.