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Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health

Industrial, Corporate and Public Health Environments

  • Chevron (Houston) – Chevron is a multinational energy company with a large employee health service department in Houston. Residents will have the opportunity to learn to perform pre-placement employment screening exams, periodic and exposure-related health surveillance exams, fitness for duty assessments, occupational injury assessment, treatment and follow-up, and management of workers’ compensation cases.
  • Dow Health Services (Freeport) – Dow Chemical is a leading material manufacturing company with a large complex in Freeport, TX. Residents will rotate with Dow Health Services and learn approaches to include Return to Work/Fitness for Duty evaluations, Injury and Illness Case Management, Medical Surveillance Program, Reproductive Health Consultations, and Travel Health Consultations. There are also opportunities to understand better health and safety hazards associated with their extensive chemical manufacturing processes. Finally, they have a state-of-the-art wellness center for employees and an onsite clinic to learn from. 

  • Houston Health Department - The Houston Health Department (HHD) is the public health agency for the City of Houston. It is a comprehensive local health department engaged in a variety of public health areas including epidemiology and disease reporting, consumer health services, health centers, immunizations and pollution control and prevention. Rotations at the HHD include activities in the areas of public health administration, policy & planning, public health preparedness, environmental public health, public information and risk communication, health education & prevention, and disease control & clinical prevention activities.

  • Memorial Hermann Health System - Corporate – Residents work closely with the preceptor, a former resident of our program, and current Vice President of Employee Health Medical Operations. The rotation also involves assisting the Vice President with a project work relevant to occupational medicine and a chance to learn the management structure of an employee health department of a large healthcare service organization. 
  • LyondellBasell – LyondellBasell is a multinational refinery and chemicals plant with manufacturing and corporate sites in Houston. Residents will have an opportunity to work in both scenarios, seeing occupational injuries, illnesses, disaster response, return to work, and fitness for duty. LyondellBasell is also leading an initiative in Total Worker Health, and residents will be able to participate in its development.
  • NASA – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is America’s civil space program and the global leader in space exploration. Established as the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) in 1961, the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is responsible for designing, developing, and operating human space flight. The residency program has a long-term collaboration with NASA in the areas of both research and education. Residents interested in this rotation will apply for this twice-a-year opportunity and, if selected, will participate in a 4-week clerkship involving formal lectures on space medicine topics and issues, familiarization with the medical aspects of International Space Station operations, design, and function as well as Exploration Medical Capability for deep space exploration. Clerkship participants are required to complete a research project and scientific poster with an accompanying 250-word abstract in a current focus area of space medicine, which will be presented in an open forum poster session for not only the JSC Space Medicine Operations and clinical community but other interested divisions/elements at JSC.  
  • ShellHealth – Shell is also a large multinational energy company. Residents can learn the breadth of a large healthcare organization that provides employee services around the globe, many in remote hazardous conditions. The rotation will spend time in both Shell Corporate headquarters working with executives whose responsibility focuses on North and South America Shell global manufacturing. The other part of the rotation will be spent at the Deer Park chemical plant better understand, prevent, and treat hazards associated with chemical manufacturing.

 Healthcare Settings

  • Concentra Medical Centers (three Houston sites) – This national occupational medicine clinic system provides various employee health care, including acute care, pre-placement testing, ergonomics evaluations, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and fitness for duty. Residents can obtain both Medical Review Officer (MRO) and Department of Transportation (DOT) certificates for free while on this rotation. The Houston area has three different Concentra clinics residents can rotate in, each with a different set of employers and hazards unique to the area. Away rotations in other cities can also be arranged at Concentra sites if those clinic sponsors obtain permission.
  • Houston Area Safety Council (HASC) – This large healthcare facility provides extensive services for small and medium companies, primarily in the oil and gas industry. Services include injury care, physical exams including DOT, non-DOT, pre-employment, fit-for-duty, Coast Guard, OGUK, laboratory services, pulmonary function testing (PFT), audiograms and respirator fit testing, substance abuse testing, and travel medicine. HSC also has an extensive health and safety educational facility for employers to have hands-on education.
  • International SOS – Residents spend:

a)  Two weeks assisting remotely on an International SOS-managed project somewhere in the world, subject to availability, working with an Occupational Health MD in the relevant region.

b)  Two weeks with a consultant within CMA in the US, and

c)  Four weeks with International SOS’ affiliate, PRIME, at their clinics either in Texas or Louisiana, which will be hands-on clinical practice under the supervision of a PRIME physician.

  • Lifestyle Medicine – A multi-specialty practice focusing on lifestyle health interventions. In this rotation, residents develop skills in assessing and managing occupational/environmental and other health problems affecting the employee population served from the occupational health perspective. 

  • Lifestyle Docs – Lifestyle medicine clinic focused on addressing the root cause of disease and providing the tools, guidance, and support patients need to reverse diseases, become holistically healthy and achieve their personal best. The clinic’s mission is to empower the patient to become healthy in mind, body, and spirit. 

  • Memorial Hermann Health System - Clinical – residents work at a fast-paced Occupational Medicine clinic, which includes preventive services such as pre-employment physicals and interpretation of screening exams to diagnose and treat occupational injuries and illnesses.  

  • Nova Medical Centers – Nova Medical Centers provide occupational health services such as work-related job injury treatment, pre-employment screens and services, and preventative services, including vaccinations and flu shots, at each location. 

  • University of Texas Health Services - UTHS is a provider of employee health care for a variety of companies and organizations throughout and beyond the Houston area. They offer primary care services as well employee health coverage for a large, tertiary care hospital system with extensive health care education integrated into patient care.

Subspecialty Rotations 

  • UTHealth Houston School of Bioinformatics – Residents understand Bioinformatics, which uses computers to help explain complex biological phenomena. Bioinformatics combines multiple layers of information, for example, measurements of genetics, imaging, proteomics, and microbiomics, in large quantities. It is a data-driven endeavor meant to understand and cure disease. Residents rotating through here can apply for the UTHealth Houston Bioinformatics fellowship following occupational medicine residency.  
  • Houston Emergency Opioid Engagement System (HEROES) – The HEROES program is designed for individuals seeking long-term recovery from opioid use disorder. It provides clinical and behavioral opioid treatment options at no cost. Residents will learn to evaluate and treat patients with addiction disorders and learn approaches for their return to home and the workplace.