Highlights
The Minimally Invasive and Elective General Surgery Division has grown exponentially over the past 20 years. It now has over 50 faculty members in bariatric and metabolic surgery, breast surgical oncology and endocrine surgery, colorectal surgery, surgical oncology, reflux, benign foregut surgery, interventional gastroenterology, hernia and abdominal wall reconstruction, and obesity medicine. Divisional faculty provides comprehensive, collaborative, compassionate, competent, and evidence-based surgical care in numerous outpatient and inpatient settings across the Greater Houston area (~40,000 patient visits/year).
The division has a long history of commitment to surgical education. Faculty actively participates in medical student, general surgery residency, and fellowship education. Fellowships offered through our division include:
- ACGME-accredited colorectal surgery residency (4 fellows/year)
- Five minimally invasive surgery fellowship programs and one obesity medicine fellowship (MIST Fellowship Consortium)
- Fellowship Council accredited Advanced GI MIS/Bariatric Surgery fellowship program at UTHealth Houston McGovern Medical School (2 fellows/year)
- Fellowship Council accredited Bariatric surgery fellowship program at BMI of San Antonio (2 fellows/year)
- Fellowship Council accredited Advanced Colorectal Surgery Fellowship Program at Houston Colon (2 fellows/year) (not ACGME accredited)
- Minimally Invasive Surgery fellowship program at Houston Northwest Medical Center (2 fellows/year)
- MIS – Hernia & Abdominal Wall Reconstruction (1 fellow/year)
- Clinical Obesity Medicine and Metabolism (medical weight loss fellowship, one fellow/year)
- Interventional Gastroenterology and Endoluminal Surgery (1-2 fellows/year)
The goals of the division’s fellowship training programs in minimally invasive surgery are to become the premier minimally invasive surgery training programs and a nationally and internationally recognized center of excellence in MIS clinical practice, education, and research.
From a fellowship training perspective, we offer an exceptional, fellow (and resident) friendly environment, a strong operative and endoscopic caseload, lots of hand sewing, cutting-edge procedure experience, a robust training facility (Surgical Innovation and Robotics Institute), multiple comprehensive bariatric surgery centers of excellence and comprehensive reflux treatment centers, training in billing and coding, the ability to participate in training courses and conferences around the country, and a large group of fellows for educational and social activities. MIS fellows are protected, with outstanding insurance and benefits, and are appointed Clinical Instructors in the Department of Surgery. We are one of a few programs with integrated interventional gastroenterology and clinical obesity medicine specialists within our division. We focus on strong collaborative relationships with other divisions in the Department of Surgery and departments throughout UTHealth Houston and institutions in and around the Texas Medical Center.