March 10, 2017

The Texas Children’s Hospital Resident’s Primary Care Group Clinic recently moved from the Clinical Care Tower to the Palm Center at 5400 Griggs Road, Suite 101. The clinic also was renamed to Texas Children’s Hospital Primary Care Practice at Palm Center.

Texas Children’s Hospital Primary Care Practice at Palm Center provides comprehensive routine and preventive health care including well child check-ups, sick visits, sports physicals, immunizations and management of chronic pediatric medical conditions.

The medical staff at the clinic remains the same and will continue to be actively engaged in medical education. Texas Children’s Hospital Primary Care Practice at Palm Center will serve as the largest Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine practice that provides primary care experience for pediatric medical students and residents.

“Moving this clinical practice to the Palm Center neighborhood in Houston’s Third Ward offers a great opportunity to serve the community while modeling best practice to the next generation of pediatricians,” said Clinic Chief Dr. Teresa Duryea. “We are excited to build collaborations within the community and advocate for the needs of the children.”

The clinic’s new location offers free parking and is conveniently located at the Palm Center Station on the MetroRail’s Purple Line. Please call 346-227-7275 to facilitate transfers. Referrals can be made in Epic to Primary Care Practice (TCH Resident Continuity Clinic). Appointments can be made through Central Scheduling at 832-822-2778.

For more information on Texas Children’s Hospital Primary Care Practice at Palm Center click here.

December 8, 2015

Each year beginning in the fall for several months, young hopeful physicians in suits will be seen escorted around the hospital on tours. These medical students are part of the nearly 1,500 applicants who have applied for the largest pediatric residency program in the United States, right here at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. The residency hopefuls are competing for just 34 spots within the Department of Pediatrics.

“Our program used to mainly attract students regionally, but that has really changed over the last several years,” said Chief Resident Kim Lehecka who spends a good part of her time each week with these soon to be first-year residents. “We are interviewing medical students from all over the country and around the world.”

The majority of these students are hoping for a spot in the categorical pediatric residency program which includes three years here at Texas Children’s, with rotations at Ben Taub and the Harris Health System sites. An additional 289 applicants have applied for the five spots in the pediatric global health program that adds an extra year to their training, which is spent at one of Texas Children’s’ global sites. Those with an interest in becoming physician-scientists are vying for the three spots which will be chosen from 132 applicants this year. Several other specialized programs are offered including the neuro developmental and disabilities residency, pediatrics-genetics combined residency, internal medicine in pediatrics program as well as other combined programs.

“As a chief resident, I get the privilege of being a part of these future residents’ first introduction to the hospital,” Lehecka said. “I love our residents and I love our program. I want to give back to the program because I have benefitted so much from it myself.”

Lehecka is part of a team of four women who currently serve as chief residents. These top-tier residents are hand-picked by Dr. Mark W. Kline and Dr. Mark Ward and spend an extra year as leaders of the residency program. They stand out amongst their peers and among their duties is to be a part of the decision-making process in picking the new batch of residents.

“I want these residents to know even though we’re the biggest program in the country, it’s always been a family here,” Lehecka said. “The faculty members want to mentor and be involved in your education and career development so you always feel supported.”

As part of the Texas Children’s family, these residents learn to embody the culture of the program that’s given them their first real taste of medicine.

“Residency is like being in the trenches together. You go through hardships, tough times and stressful situations, but you’re always learning and growing and that forges strong friendships,” Lehecka said.

January 20, 2015

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About 350 applicants visit the hospital campus between November and January. These students are hopeful they will be part of the elite group of 43 accepted to this highly competitive program. This year, the Department of Pediatrics had more than 990 residency applicants – the highest number of applicants in the program’s history. It’s about 100 more than last year, and it’s double the number of residents who applied just five years ago.

In July 2015, 43 young doctors will begin their training as residents at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, where they will spend three to four years learning from experts in pediatrics.

Of the residents selected, 35 will take part in the categorical residency program, a three-year program that prepares residents for board eligibility in pediatrics and for primary care practices or for subspecialty training. Five residents will be accepted into the Global Child Health Residency Program, a one-of-a-kind program nationally which allows residents to spend a year practicing pediatric medicine abroad or with underserved populations domestically. In addition, three new positions have been created this year for a physician-scientist development program. These are reserved for young doctors interested in careers in academic medicine and pediatric research. The program allows them to do research projects while completing their residency.

“Recruiting residents is one of the most important things we do,” said Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark W. Kline. “We’re ensuring the health of Houston’s children 10, 15, 20 years down the road.”

Like Kline, a former Baylor resident himself, many of these future physicians will continue their careers here at Texas Children’s long after their residency is complete. That makes this early stage of recruitment crucial to the future of the organization. That’s why every day for an hour, Kline’s undivided attention is on the five-to-eight hopeful residents who stop by his office as part of their day-long tour of the organization. He meets with the residents after reviewing their applications, personal letters and doing a little background research on their lives and hobbies. The students also meet with current residents and other faculty in their desired areas of practice after touring the hospital.

“We’re looking for people who are very bright or even brilliant who also happen to be just as nice as can be,” Kline said. “It’s exciting to have so many people recognize this is a great place to train and apply to be a part of it. We’ll have the cream of the crop even more so this year than ever before.”

As the interviews dwindle, Kline and his team will decide who will be offered one of the 43 spots while the residents make their own decisions on where to spend their residency. On Match Day in March, residents are matched to a program based on their preference and the institutions that ranked them for their coveted spots.

“These residents have the choice to go to any of our competitor institutions,” Kline said. “These are bright people and we’re competing for the best and brightest with those other places. I simply think there’s not a better place in the world to be a pediatrician or train in pediatrics than Texas Children’s Hospital.”

April 1, 2014

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Dr. Mark Kline sits in his office checking his watch. At one minute before 1 p.m. on March 20th he’s feeling anxious. At exactly 1 p.m. is the moment he will find out the group of residents matched to Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine’s residency programs. It’s that moment when the leader of each program across the country is able to log in to a website where their matches are revealed. The residency programs affiliated with Texas Children’s include a categorical pediatric residency program, a pediatric global health program, the surgery residency as well as the residency in obstetrics and gynecology. For Dr. Kline and the other leaders involved, this is the culmination of months of interviewing.

“I meet with every hopeful resident who visits us to tell them about our organization and what it means to be here,” said Kline. “What I’m looking for is people who are not just smart but nice. I don’t need them to be nice to me, everyone is nice to me, I want them to be nice to people who have no power over their position here.”

Kline calls it “accessible brilliance.” A phrase he uses often when referring to recruitment at all levels. Whether it’s residents or chiefs of service, it’s a quality that exemplifies the Texas Children’s brand. Today, it’s the residents who have matched to the institution and will be bringing that accessible brilliance to an organization which touches about 8,500 patients daily.

When he’s finally given the list, Kline and his chief residents compare the matches to the list of top candidates who were interviewed. Each year, Texas Children’s interviews hundreds of hopeful residents, when the interviews are over, the organization is given a chance to pick candidates and rank them on a list. The residents are given the same opportunity to pick their top programs ranked similarly. Each student is then matched to the institution that is highest on the list and has ranked them on the top of theirs. It’s highly competitive between the top children’s hospitals across the nation.

What attracts residents here is not just the breath and depth of cases they will be able to see, it’s the leaders who become their mentors throughout their years here.

On March 21st, less than 24 hours after residency program directors have been informed of their residents, it’s the medical students’ turn to count down to their own matches. Baylor College of Medicine hosted a Match Day 2014 brunch for the students and their families as they celebrated this momentous day in their journeys to becoming doctors. Residents gathered in the Baylor courtyard anxiously pacing about as they waited for 11 a.m. A 10 second countdown led to the class president ripping open a paper-covered board where each student found an envelope with their names; inside, a letter congratulating them on their match with the name of the program where they will be spending the next few years as residents.

Loud cheers, some tears of joy and lots of hugging and the residents were finally able to celebrate their accomplishments. A day they’ve awaited for years. A day where they could find out they have been matched to programs like those at Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine.

“The better talent that we can attract at this level right out of medical school, the better we will be 5 years, 10 years, 15 years down the line,” said Kline.