Texas Pain Fellowship Training Programs & Directors

Before the Texas Pain Society (TPS) Pain Fellow's Day on October 4, we wanted to highlight pain fellowship training programs and directors from across the state of Texas.

The Pain Medicine Fellowship at UTHealth Houston is a comprehensive program committed to patient care, education, and research utilizing state-of-the-art knowledge and technology. The program provides training across various settings, including outpatient pain medicine clinics, the inpatient Acute/Chronic Pain Services, and satellite clinics in the wider Houston region. The faculty members specialize in diagnosing and treating patients unresponsive to conventional therapies, while fellows are trained to deliver holistic care for individuals with intricate pain conditions. The diverse team comprises experts from anesthesiology, neurology, physiatry, internal medicine, hematology, psychiatry, and addiction medicine. This fellowship offers a focused year of training, emphasizing the development of clinical proficiency, leadership, research skills, and multidisciplinary patient care.

The fellowship program is, to a large extent, evaluation and management of complex pain problems by a multidisciplinary team. The fellowship program trains candidates to be qualified in pain management by the American Board of Anesthesiology and the American Board of Pain Management. Applicants applying must have completed a Residency in either Anesthesiology, Physical Medicine Rehabilitation, Emergency Medicine or Interventional Radiology at an accredited residency training program prior to applying.

MD Anderson's Pain Fellowship Program offers two opportunities for applicants. Fellows may complete a one year clinical fellowship or a two year clinical research fellowship for eligible applicants. The one year clinical fellowship provides future leaders in pain medicine the medical knowledge, clinical decision-making, and procedural skills sufficient to function as expert consultants in the field of pain medicine. The clinical research fellowship is ideal for any future pain physician who is interested in a career in academic pain medicine. Under the mentorship of Professor and Chair, Dr. Salahadin Abdi, the clinical research fellow will complete one year of guided clinical research in pain medicine followed by one year of clinical pain fellowship.

The UTMB Pain Medicine Fellowship has a strong history of developing physician leaders capable of managing complex pain syndromes in a variety of settings. The resources and educational opportunities available through this program provide the necessary tools to establish the foundational knowledge needed to develop one’s practice. Further, this program helps foster the critical thinking skills needed to cultivate innovative approaches in a field facing a variety of challenges. Upon graduation, fellows have consistently excelled in both academic and private practice settings. The 12-month ACGME Accredited Pain Medicine Fellowship experience at UTMB is designed to establish astute Pain Medicine Consultants with a patient centered multidisciplinary approach to the entire spectrum of pain conditions.

The Department of Anesthesiology provides a one year, ACGME Accredited, Pain Medicine Fellowship which is designed to enable the fellow to develop the knowledge and skills to establish and manage a multidisciplinary pain clinic. In addition to evaluating and treating outpatients with chronic pain, the fellow is involved with the Acute Pain Service. The fellow develops proficiency in interpreting radiographic and electrodiagnostic results. They will also learn the indication for and technique of neurolytic blocks, placing a dorsal column stimulator, and spinal infusion pump system. The didactic portion of the fellowship requires the fellow to provide a formal, in depth presentation of a pain topic at the inter-institutional Pain Medicine Grand Rounds. The fellow is responsible for a slide presentation to the medical students as well as second and third year residents on a monthly basis regarding the topic of pain. The research portion of the fellowship encourages the fellow to research, design, conduct, and complete a project under the guidance of the faculty with the expectation of the fellow to present and publish an abstract or article.

The faculty members have a wide variety of training backgrounds and special interests in pain management – including medical, psychological and invasive treatment modalities The Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Baylor College of Medicine (Temple) Pain Fellowship Management is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The one-year fellowship is an integrated, multidisciplinary pain management fellowship that includes common and advanced interventional techniques as well as interdisciplinary, acute, chronic and cancer pain management on an inpatient and outpatient basis. 

The Multidisciplinary Pain Medicine Fellowship Program is designed to enable physicians to pursue and excel in careers as specialists in Pain Medicine. The fellows are affiliated with the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, with board certification through the American Board of Medical Specialties and the American Board of Anesthesiology. This 12-month ACGME accredited fellowship includes interventional, interdisciplinary, and acute, chronic, and cancer pain management on an inpatient and outpatient basis. The fellows rotate through various ACGME required rotations along with electives integrated in order to enhance the overall educational experience. Fellows have the opportunity to rotate through several different sites in order to work with various patient populations and, on average, participate in a high volume of basic and advanced interventional procedures. The didactic program involves a dedicated lecture series, journal club with morbidity/mortality discussion, along with open forums and other opportunities. The