The Methodist Hospital
Houston Methodist Hospital Program
6565 Fannin St, M227
Houston, TX 77030
Houston Methodist Hospital is a 1000 bed hospital located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas.
Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Residency[]
(Rate The Methodist Hospital Program on Scutwork.com)
Residency Program Director: Suzanne Powell, MD
Number of Residents (total): 20
Number of Residents (annually): approx. 5
Willing to sponsor H1/J1 visas
Note: A Pathology Residency Research Program is available for applicants interested in investigative pathology.
- Houston Methodist Hospital Alumni: Where do Methodist Pathology Residents go after they graduate?
Comments/Reviews:[]
Current or past residents, please feel free to add your comments below. If you disagree with some else's comments, please feel free to leave your own differing opinion, but please do not delete anyone else's comments. Thank you for your professionalism.
DAILY SCHEDULE:[]
Each day starts around 8am for conference. Occasionally on surg path you are asked to come in around 7am (if on biopsy sign out...so you can prepare the cases on time) or 7:30am (for frozen section duty; that is when the OR's open although I don't recall ever having a frozen before 8am).
After conference, you go off to work on whatever rotation you are on. Surgpath is (as for all programs) one of the busiest rotations. The schedule is divided into gross (routine/large specimens) day, sign out routines day, frozen section day, sign out frozen section day, and then a sign out biopsy day. Usually each resident gets 1-2 float days per surg path month; float days you have no responsibility other than helping out the other residents if they get swamped with cases in the afternoon...so it is a great day to catch up on other work you need to do, follow up on old cases for immunos, etc.
At noon, we have conference with lunch provided. Conference time is protected, so you will not be called for a frozen during conference.
After noon conference, you go back to your work until Dr. Ro's conference at 1:15pm. If you are busy you are not required to go, but it is by far our best conference and is essentially required for PGY-1's. Then you finish up the rest of your work for the day.
On average, most days are about 8am to 6pm, although many days you will be done by 5pm. Some busy surgpath days you may stay till 7pm or so (but often that is by the resident's choice, not because the attending requires it). The cut off time for grossing is 6pm, so if you are not done by then, the tissue will not go on the processor for that day; in other words, we are not supposed be grossing later than 6pm because staying later will not get the slides out any faster. So you can just come in earlier the next morning and finish up...this is a very nice thing!
Weekends: (Updated)
- For AP, one resident comes in Saturday AM to gross (may take till noon or maybe afternoon, depending on speed and case load). Residents may occasionally have to come in for an autopsy on the weekend, as well. PGY-1 residents cover Saturday grossing/autopsy approximately 1 weekend per surg path month.
- For CP, plan to come in Saturday AM for apheresis (doesn't always happen, but usually does). If on call, you will cover CP issues over the weekend.
- CP call is for PGY-2s and above, however, PGY-1 residents cover scheduled blood bank apheresis procedures on Saturdays of their Transfusion Medicine/Blood Bank months. PGY-1s also are "on duty" and answer the CP call pager Monday-Thursday until 10pm during their Transfusion Medicine/Blood Bank months.
Overall, the hours are very reasonable and the work environment is outstanding and easy going and even fun.
EDUCATION:[]
Fantastic program for education. We get tons of great teaching and we have exposure to an excellent variety and appropriate volume of surg path cases. Education is an absolute priority at Methodist, with pretty minimal scut work. Outstanding faculty that are easy to work with and love to teach is one of the best things about the program. We have many great conferences. We usually have an 8am and a noon conference daily (lunch provided). Also, Dr. Jae Ro gives an interactive hour surg path conference at the 18 head microscope daily at 1:15pm (this is an incredible conference...Dr. Ro has a gift and a passion for teaching and all of the residents and fellows love him).
ENVIRONMENT/LIFESTYLE:[]
Almost all of the faculty are amazing. Friendly, great teachers and mentors, easy to get along with, always available to talk (even about personal/non-pathology issues), very family friendly and all around great people. Although a couple of the attendings may have their idiosyncracies (as at any program), there are essentially no truly malignant personalities among the faculty. The faculty all seem to get along with one another very well; many of them have been friends since they were residents together. Some of the faculty throw parties/barbecues at their houses and invite the residents. Our program director will usually try to come to our resident happy hours with us as well, which is very cool.
The residents all get along very well. Many of us routinely hang out or get dinner (or breakfast on the weekends) or have drinks outside of work. It is a very fun environment to work in when you are actually friends with most of the residents. Our program director allows us as residents to have a lot of input when applicants are selected for the program rank list. We all play an active role in interviewing candidates. This allows us to ensure that all of the incoming residents will mesh well with everyone, which is so important, both for the current residents and for the incoming PGY-1's.
I would say that less than 20% of the residents are FMG's, although the residents who are FMG's are fantastic. Most of these residents spent time rotating with us when they were applying and they were selected in part because of the strong positive opinions of the residents who worked with them. Overall, The Methodist Hospital has a very competitive pathology residency program, with a surplus of truly outstanding US and foreign grads applying each year.
The Methodist Hospital has been in the top 20 on the Fortune "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for the past 4 years running (it was in the top 10 for 3 of those years), and it is no wonder why. The hospital is fancy (like a nice hotel) and well kept, great benefits and one of the highest resident salaries in all of Texas! Truly a great place to work. Overall, I could not have been happier with my program.
BENEFITS (Updated):
PGY-1 Salary (2015-2016): $52,275
Selected other benefits: Medical, dental, and vision are included free of charge for all trainees, and are available for family members for an additional fee. Annual PTO is allocated for holidays, vacation, sick time, personal days, family leave, etc. PTO for PGY-1s is 16 days/year, and PTO for PGY-2s and above is 21 days/year. Unused PTO at the end of training is paid out, for a maximum of 21 days. Residents may contribute to a 403(b) retirement account, and Methodist provides an employer match of 50% up to the individual contribution of 4%.
"INSIDER INFO" ABOUT SOME OF THE FACULTY:[]
- Jae Y Ro, MD, PhD
- The "Yoda" of pathology. Truly a master of teaching surg path, and he does it in a very memorable and entertaining way.
- Gives a daily hour long interactive surg path conference at the 18 headed microscope. He asks the resident to figure out what tissue it is and what the diagnosis is, and he teaches the residents how to arrive at that diagnosis via a easy to use and well designed algorithmic approach.
- A world renowned expert in GU pathology, but also an extremeley talented surgical pathologist in all areas.
- Trained and worked at MD Anderson for the majority of his career.
- Dr. Ro (and Dr. Ayala) trained several very well known GU pathologists during their time at MD Anderson, such as:
- Mahul Amin - Chairman of Pathology Department, Cedars-Sinai
- David Grignon - Professor of Pathology, Indiana University
- John Srigley - Professor of Pathology, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada
- Dr. Ro's favorite sayings include:
- "Always three!" (because he teaches every tumor as a triad of 3 things to remember).
- "Good job! Now you are ready to be a fellow!" (what he says to first year residents when they get an answer right)
- "Shame! You must study!" (what he says jokingly to upper levels when they miss an obvious answer, but always in good fun)
- "You must always do your BeST!" (BeST is his acronym for Basics, enjoyment, Study, and Think. See Dr. Ro's BeST for more info.)
- Alberto Ayala, MD
- The "Godfather" of pathology, as some of the residents say (because it sounds cooler than grandfather, which is really what he is like).
- Incredibly experienced after working at MD Anderson for over 30 years before coming to Methodist.
- World renowned expert in GU pathology. Also an expert in bone and soft tissue pathology. But good at everything, of course.
- Very nice and approachable. He hosted a party for all of the residents and faculty at his ranch last summer and he cooked the food for all of us!
- Always willing to look at an interesting case with any resident, even if they are not on service with him. A truly open door policy.
- Phil Cagle, MD
- Past president of the Pulmonary Pathology Society
- Editor in Chief of the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
- Member of the International Mesothelioma Panel
- Gives a daily pulmonary pathology consensus conference
- Dr. Cagle is also a war history buff. He once gave an impromptu lecture on the history of combat weapons beginning with the Civil War until modern times.
Blood Banking / Transfusion Medicine Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director: Christopher Leveque, M.D.
Fellowship Length: 1 year
Positions Per Year: 1
Position for 2015: Filled
Position for 2016: Accepting applications
CAP Standardized Application Accepted
Comments/Reviews:[]
Cytopathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director: Dina R. Mody, M.D.
Fellowship Length: 1 year
Positions Per Year: 2
Position for 2015: Filled
Position for 2016: Accepting applications
CAP Standardized Application Accepted
Comments/Reviews:[]
Houston Methodist Hospital has a large volume of gynecologic, non-gynecologic, and fine needle aspiration materials for daily sign-out. Program includes rotations at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Ben Taub General Hospital (community hospital). Opportunities for performing and interpreting fine needle aspirations are available at all three sites. At HMH, training in gynecologic cytology includes conventional, ThinPrep, and SurePath preparations, as well as cytology-histology correlates on dysplasia in both high-risk and low-risk populations.
Hematopathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director: April Ewton, MD
Fellowship Length: 1 year
Positions Per Year: 2
Positions for 2016: Filled
Positions for 2017: Accepting applications
CAP Standardized Application Accepted
The hematopathology fellowship at Houston Methodist is done in tandem with the Selective Hematopathology Fellowship, making this (in essence) a two-year program.
The fellowship balances education and service responsibility extraordinarily well. Your first year (Selective Year) will be primarily at Houston Methodist, with time primarily divided between Bone Marrow and Lymph Node services. You play an important role in teaching the residents on your service, but all four of our attending hematopathologists enjoy teaching and do so daily. Your first year also has Cytogenetics, Molecular, and HLA rotations.
During your second year, you rotate both at Houston Methodist and to other hospitals in the Texas Medical Center, as well as on Coagulation. Ample leadership opportunities in the laboratory and research (if interested) are available.
Comments/Reviews:[]
Selective Hematopathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director: April Ewton, MD
Fellowship Length: 1
Positions Per Year: 2
Position for 2016: Filled
Position for 2017: Accepting applications
CAP Standardized Application Accepted
Note: This selective hematopathology fellowship does not confer board eligibility in Hematopathology.
Comments/Reviews:[]
Neuropathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director: Suzanne Powell, MD
Fellowship Length: 2 year
Positions Per Year: 1
Position for 2017: Accepting applications
CAP Standardized Application Accepted
Comments/Reviews:[]
This is a very nicely structured fellowship where the fellow gets exposure to a number of great hospitals - The Methodist Hospital, MD Anderson, and Texas Children's Hospital. Each of these hospitals see a distinct pattern of neuropathological diseses and it is nice to get different perspectives. They also see cases from Ben Taub and from the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science. Fellows are encouraged to attend general surgical conferences. There are a number of research labs in MD Anderson and Texas Children's Hospital, if one is inclined to do basic research. The faculty are friendly and there is a lot of interaction among the different institutions of the Texas Medical Center. I have found this fellowship to be a very enriching experience.
Ophthalmic Pathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director: Paty Chevez-Barrios, M.D.
Fellowship Length: 1 year
Positions Per Year: 1
Position for 2015: Not filled
Position for 2016: Accepting applications
CAP Standardized Application Accepted
Comments/Reviews:[]
Surgical Pathology Fellowship[]
Fellowship Program Director: Mary R. Schwartz, M.D.
Fellowship Length: 1 year
Positions Per Year: 5
Position for 2015: Filled
Position for 2016: Accepting applications
CAP Standardized Application Accepted
Comments/Reviews:[]
The twelve months for this fellowship are divided as such: 6 months of surgical pathology, 3 months of breast biopsy and consults, and 3 months of electives. Each fellow has their own desk, computer, microscope, and dictation machine or phone with access to the dictation line. The fellows are responsible for a handful of conferences during the year (QA conference, journal club, gross conference, etc) as well as about 6 tumor boards. The scheduling is flexible to accommodate (as well as possible) those fellows taking boards and studying at the end of the year. The faculty and program director are outstanding.
HLA Fellowship ASHI Approved (Pending ACGME Approval for second position)[]
Fellowship Program Directors:
Fellowship Length: 2 years
Positions Per Year: 1 (2 spots if ACGME approval)
CAP Standardized Application Accepted
Comments/Reviews:[]
Not currently accepting applications.
Molecular Genetic Pathology[]
Fellowship Program Director:
Fellowship Length: 1 year
Positions Per Year: 1 Position for 2016: Filled
Position for 2017: Currently accepting applications
Position for 2018: Filled
Comments/Reviews:[]
Clinical Chemistry[]
Fellowship Program Direction: Ping Wang, PhD
Fellowship length: 2 years
Positions per 2-year cycle: 1
Position for 2015: Currently accepting applications
Pathology Clinical Informatics[]
Fellowship Program Director: S. Wesley Long, MD, PhD
Fellowship Length: 2 years
Positions Per Year: 1 Position
Position for 2018:
Position for 2019: Currently accepting applications