ENT in Texas

[drfunktacular]

I am getting to the point where I will start looking for aways in the next few months. I would love to stay in Texas for my residency, so I am wondering if any of you Texperts (*ahem* Throat and resxn) could weigh in on the relative merits of the Texas programs?

In particular I have heard some questionable-to-outright-bad things about UTMB and UT Houston. I've heard that UTH's program is essentially shut down for the time being? And from what I hear UTMB is having some faculty turnover and lost their chair recently. I assume Baylor and UTSW are strong. And I know nothing about UTSA.

Thanks!

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[earboy]

I went to UTMB for medical school and it is true that their chair, Newlands, is leaving. When he took over the dept. there was a large efflux of faculty. some of these have been replaced. Two of them went to UTSW. One back to LA, one to UT-Houston and so on. There however have been a number of newly recruited faculty. When I was there, it was a very strong program, on par with UTSW in my opinion. Their didactics couldn't be beat. There was a good level of autonomy. They were light in free-flaps and peds as I remember. Used to be strong in plastics but that was over when Calhoun left to MU. So, it's going through changes and probably not the best place to be right now. You also have to seriously think about living in an island community like Galveston.

UT-Houston is getting a new chair, Citardi, from Cleveland Clinic. they have lost a lot of faculty and are also an unstable place at this point.

UTSW is a strong program. I really like UTSW. the chair is a great guy. They have lots of money and are recruiting more and more faculty all the time. Clinically, they're awesome. As for research, the dept doesn't follow suit with the strong reputation of UTSW's research programs in general. You will definitely be trained well there.

Don't know anything about UTSA.

Don't know too much about Baylor either. Alford, their chair, has the longest tenure of any chair in the US. This means he's old and will probably have to go sometime soon. The research at baylor is excellent, especially if you're into basic hearing research. No doubt you'll get very good training there. There have been grumblings lately since the split with Methodist. I know the faculty have had to take across-the-board pay cuts for something like 2 yrs in a row. But given its name and reputation, this place shouldn't ever be unstable.

That's about all I know.

 

[resxn]

I agree that UTMB is hurting.

I have a friend who is the rhinologist (McMains) at UTSA and from what he says, it's a good program. He's proud of it and thinks it's a good place for residents. He's a resident advocate too, so I trust him when he says that.

UTSW is my main tertiary referral facility for major head and neck cases. I've been happy with their care so far. I've heard mixed things about the "malignancy" of the program. Some have said it's brutal, others not so much. However, I'm not familiar with any of the current residents so I don't have direct knowledge. I do like the chair, Roland, however. I think he's great.

Baylor is one of the premiere ENT programs in my opinion by reputation at the least. It's true Alford is getting mighty up there in years. The chair of my program actually left Baylor (Jenkins) because he was next in line to become chair and Alford just wouldn't ever leave. He'll die in his office. I have a very good friend who is an attending there (Takashima) another great resident advocate and he loves the program. He left being an attending at my residency to go back to Baylor where he did his residency. He has nothing but good to say, but I do know that Baylor can be a little brutal in terms of work load. Having said that, that was before work hour restrictions. I'm not sure what it's like now for residents.

 

[TheThroat]

Don't know much about UT-H.

UTSW is where I send my tough cases. I really like some of their faculty, and I think that residents have a ton of autonomy at Parkland. They have a reputation of producing well-trained residents, but also that the residents work pretty hard there. I know a fair number of their younger faculty (Ryan, Kutz, Isaacson) and have operated with Ducic and observed Truelson. All have been great to work with.

I really liked UTSA when I interviewed there. The residents seemed pretty happy and the faculty seemed pretty laid-back. That's all I know though.

Went to Baylor for med school. Alford is a great guy, but was pretty old 7 years ago! I don't know much about the program now, but back in the day, the residents worked hard but knew their stuff. Tons of research opportunities, lots of autonomy at the VA and Ben Taub.

Liked UTMB when I interviewed there, but that was back when 3 of the big 4 were there (Bailey, Quinn, and Calhoun, [Deskin having left for Baylor]). Others have posted about some of the changes that have taken place.

 

[montypython]

So are there any updates regarding the stability of the UT-H and UTMB programs from 4th years who recently matched or other Texas attendings