Dr. Victor Fainstein has been extensively involved in treating cases and in developing and managing protocols throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He also served as consultant to Houston-area businesses, sports teams, school districts and art institutions, including the Houston Ballet.

Fainstein was born in Mexico City, Mexico, where he obtained his medical degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and completed internal medicine residency at the Salvador Zubirán National Institute of Health Sciences and Nutrition. Fainstein completed his first fellowship in infectious diseases and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine and second fellowship, focused on infectious diseases in the compromised host, at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Fainstein served as vice chairman of the infectious diseases department, chairman of infection control, and professor of medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center for eight years. He then moved to Houston Methodist Hospital, where he has been practicing for over 30 years, serves as chief of infectious diseases, and is medical director and senior advisor to Houston Methodist Global Health Care Services. He holds internal medicine professorships at Weill Cornell Medical College and the Houston Methodist Institute for Academic Medicine.

Fainstein has published more than 125 peer reviewed articles and one textbook. He serves on the editorial board of several major medical journals and was a consultant to the World Health Organization Pan American Division in Infectious Diseases.

Fainstein has been honored with annual teaching awards, the Texas Medical Association Scientific Writing Award, Houston Methodist Hospital Centennial Physician, and John Overstreet Physician of the Year Award conferred by Houston Methodist for unparalleled devotion to patient care and compassion. Fainstein also served as president of the Houston Methodist medical staff and vice chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine, and president of the Houston and Texas Infectious Diseases Societies.