Houston Methodist Division of Surgical Critical Care

The Division of Surgical Critical Care is made up of a cohesive team with a unified vision. Our critical care ICU is a highly specialized unit of nurses, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, nutritionists and pharmacists — a synchronous group led by intensive care physicians to create a holistic care plan for each patient. 

We work in tandem with divisions across the Department of Surgery and providers across Houston Methodist, including pulmonology, cardiology, infectious disease, neurology and others, to assess and treat our critically ill patients. Our critical care surgeons are challenged with high-acuity cases including extremes in pathophysiology and technically demanding procedures. We have a strong passion for treating patients who are unable to be treated elsewhere, and we are unified in our commitment to working in a supportive and collaborative environment with each other and our patients and their families. 

Our Faculty ➝   Our Physicians ➝ 

Leading medicine defines our approach. Through our rigorous needs assessment and unwavering commitment to finding solutions, when conventional methods fall short, we don’t stop, we collaborate to find another path forward. We approach each critically ill patient as an opportunity to advance medical innovation to improve clinical and surgical outcomes, and then take that clinical learning into research to improve surgical outcomes.  

Our research initiatives consistently drive clinical innovation and quality improvement. For instance, Dr. Hina Faisal collaborated with a multidisciplinary team to investigate post-intensive care syndrome (PICS). Their research examined the therapeutic potential of inhaled anesthetics as an alternative sedation strategy to mitigate the neurocognitive and functional impairments associated with traditional ICU sedation protocols, ultimately facilitating improved patient recovery trajectories and functional outcomes post-discharge. 

Collaboration is strong throughout our division. Our critical care surgeons work at The Bookout Center in the Houston Methodist Academic Institute, one of the largest and most comprehensive surgical education and research facilities in the world. And the surgeons in our division regularly share research discoveries with peers, contribute to peer-reviewed academic publications, speak at meetings and grand rounds, and collaborate with physicians at MD Anderson Cancer Center. 

Our division trains the next generation to become exceptional critical care surgeons. Our students receive an unparalleled educational experience in academic medicine, and we teach our students to view being surgeons as a supreme responsibility. 

The Houston Methodist Surgical Critical Care Fellowship, led by Constance Mobley, MD, PhD, FACS is a one-year, ACGME accredited fellowship with three fellows in training per year. Our program exposes fellows to high acuity, critically ill patients reflecting the breadth and depth of practice expected of the modern surgical intensivist. Throughout the fellowship rotations and electives, fellows have broad exposure to surgery, neurology, cardiology, pulmonology and solid organ transplant while developing thorough knowledge and skills. 

The General Surgery Residency is a five-year program providing broad experience in general surgery, surgical basic sciences and numerous surgical specialties. Residents spend up to five months in rotation in our ICU. Robust learning opportunities include educational conferences, mock oral examinations, monthly journal clubs and surgical ICU mortality and morbidity conferences. 

Our multidisciplinary teaching rounds provide bedside teaching opportunities. In our weekly didactic lectures, specialists from all over Houston Methodist as well as from outside the city and nationally give lectures about critical care on a wide range of life-saving topics in cardiac, pulmonary, infection, sepsis and other areas. Weekly grand rounds are presented by senior residents, fellows, surgical faculty, non-surgical faculty and visiting professors. 

Atiya Dhala, MD, Medical Director of Houston Methodist Hospital’s Virtual ICU and Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery, teaches about the latest advances in critical care patient diagnosis and treatment, locally and throughout the nation. Dr. Dhala also helps with the annual International Symposium on Advances in Critical Care Medicine.