Welcome from the Chair

Welcome to the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB).

Our Department is committed to excellence in perioperative clinical care, resident and fellow education, and research in Anesthesiology. With roots tracing back to the Department of Medicine at the University of Texas, founded in 1891, which evolved into today’s UTMB, our department has a proud legacy of pioneering clinical care and academic medicine. We are home to one of the first autonomous departments of anesthesiology in the United States; one of the nation’s earliest anesthesiology simulation centers; the training site for the first full-time anesthesiologist in Texas, Dr. Claudia Potter; and groundbreaking discoveries in cardiopulmonary physiology and critical care.

Today, UTMB has grown into a comprehensive healthcare system encompassing six hospitals across four campuses, serving urban, suburban, and rural communities. Within this broad and dynamic clinical landscape, our faculty, residents, and fellows deliver clinical care across the full range of anesthetic practice to surgical, procedural, and critically ill patients from low-risk ambulatory procedures to highly complex pediatric burn care, cardiothoracic and neurological surgery, and high-acuity obstetrics. We also provide advanced interventional pain management as well as comprehensive care for acute and chronic pain conditions.

The breadth and depth of our clinical environment create an exceptional setting for clinical practice, training, and research. Our clinical faculty practice in a setting where they can apply and share their general and sub-specialized expertise across a wide range of cases. Residents and fellows benefit from this extensive array of opportunities to build a strong foundation in clinical anesthesiology and, if desired, to pursue one of our advanced sub-specialty fellowships in Critical Care Medicine, Pain Medicine, Adult Cardiothoracic, or Obstetric Anesthesiology. Combined with a robust educational infrastructure - including an extensive didactic curriculum and early exposure to hands-on and simulation-based training - our department offers a unique setting for comprehensive training in anesthesiology.

We take great pride in the strong sense of community that defines our Department. We highly value a collegial, supportive, and committed work and training environment, shared by our faculty, residents, fellows, certified nurse anesthetists, and administrative staff. This spirit of collaboration extends beyond our Department to our cooperation with colleagues in other specialties and into the broader community. The breadth of our clinical sites and areas of expertise allows us to care for a wide range of patients, enabling our commitment to providing socially impactful, community-centered clinical care.

Research has been central to our mission since the Department’s  inception. Our investigators have led pioneering work across a broad range of topics relevant to Anesthesiology including perioperative fluid management, sepsis and shock, noninvasive monitoring, and traumatic brain injury. We are actively expanding our research enterprise through translational studies, data science initiatives, and multicenter clinical trials aiming at improving outcomes across the perioperative and critical care spectrum.

In summary, the UTMB Department of Anesthesiology stands out for its combination of historical excellence, broad and innovative clinical practice, rich educational opportunities, and a thriving research environment, all within a genuinely supportive, community-oriented culture. We encourage you to learn more about our Department on this website and welcome any questions at Contact Us.

Marcos Vidal Melo, MD, PhD - Professor and
Rebecca Terry White Distinguished Chair
Department of Anesthesiology