Overview
The Division of General Medicine is a team of clinically oriented physicians from varied backgrounds, dedicated to excellence in education, comprehensive patient care, clinical research, and professional growth.
We are actively involved in inpatient and outpatient teaching of medical students and residents. Our faculty serves as ward attendings for the Internal Medicine teaching services at Memorial Hermann Hospital TMC and the Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital. We also serve at many ambulatory locations, including the UT General Medicine Center at the UT Professional Building across from McGovern Medical School, the UT Physician Bellaire, UT Physicians Victory, UT Bayshore Multispecialty Clinic, UT Physicians Heights, and UT Physicians Jensen Multispecialty Clinic, the Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital Outpatient Clinic, the Quentin Mease Clinic with the Harris County Hospital District, and the Memorial Hermann and TIRR Outpatient Clinic.
Our faculty also participate in many capacities in Medical Student education, serving as course directors for the Internal Medicine rotation and the ambulatory experience in the 4th year. We actively participate in Problem-Based Learning, the Doctoring course, and lectures in several basic science courses. During our medical student’s careers, we interact with all of them each year. Regarding postgraduate medicinal education, our Faculty members direct the Internal Medicine Residency Program, the Med/Peds Residency Program, the Internal Medicine Clerkship, and the Internal Medicine Electives. We have received numerous teaching awards over the years. Two of our Faculty hold Associate Dean Appointments with UTHealth Houston. Faculty in the Division are recognized nationally in Quality and Error Prevention, Bioinformatics, and Population Health. Our faculty are leaders in their fields, constantly seeking to advance their skills.
We are one of the most active clinical divisions in the school. In addition to patient care at the above locations, we also perform internal medicine consultations at the Harris County Psychiatric Center. Our faculty are Board certified and have received recognition as Best Doctors and Top Doctors in the area.
Current research efforts include the McGovern Medical School’s Center of Excellence for Patient Safety Research and Practice, a $7 million program project grant funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This Center is directed by Dr. Eric Thomas, who received the 2007 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award for Research. Dr. Kevin Hwang has active research on the effect of diet and exercise on obesity. Drs. Phil Johnson, Robin Hardwicke, and Gabriel Aisenberg are doing clinical research. Dr. Elmer Bernstam is involved in biomedical informatics, focusing on information retrieval, consumer informatics, and decision support. Dr. Gabriel Aisenberg promotes research among internal medicine residents.
The division is the home of the Walter M. and Mary Kirkendall Endowed Lectureship to support Internal Medicine Grand Rounds. The Ragan Ryan Summer Research Stipend funds two college or medical students to work in research activities during the summer. Dr. Eric Thomas holds the Griff T. Ross Professorship in Humanities and Technology in Health Care. Dr. Philip Johnson holds the Jerold B. Katz Family Distinguished Professor in General Medicine and Carolyn and William T. Deffebach Distinguished Professor of Internal Medicine.
We oversee a competitive Fellowship Program in General Medicine and bioinformatics. Our General Medicine Fellowship Program educates the fellows in clinical research and quality improvement measures, which will provide the fellows with the necessary skills to perform independent research. Our Clinical Informatics Internal Medicine Fellowship Program’s mission is to develop leaders, who will advance the science and practice of Clinical Informatics and Internal Medicine. Our mission aligns with the University’s mission to educate health science professionals, discover and translate advances in the biomedical and social sciences, and model the best practices in clinical care and public health. Our Clinical Informatics Program will attract quality trainees to our university.