Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine

About the Program

Operating out of the recently UHMS-reaccredited (Level One with distinction) facility at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, our Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine (UHM) fellowship is an ACGME-accredited 12-month program designed to prepare physicians for subspecialty certification by the American Board of Preventive Medicine or American Board of Emergency Medicine in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine. The curriculum encompasses: physics and physiology of altered ambient pressure, dive safety, clinical applications of hyperbaric oxygen, and the evaluation and treatment of diving and marine injuries. Our faculty have over 50 years of combined experience in aviation and dive medicine as well as anesthesia and critical care. The multi-place triple-lock hypo/hyperbaric chamber at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine is the largest in North Texas. We are active in both the clinical practice of and research into altitude and hyperbaric medicine. 
The fellowship is consistent with the ACGME guidelines and sub-specialty common program requirements. 

Goals and Objectives:

• Provide in depth training in undersea and hyperbaric medicine
• Prepare fellowship graduates for academic careers in hyperbaric medicine
• Prepare fellowship graduates to lead teams of interdisciplinary personnel
• Expose fellows to clinical research related to hyperbaric medicine
• Prepare fellowship graduates to teach and train students, residents and colleagues
• Prepare fellowship graduates to be consultants in the field of hyperbaric medicine

Our People:

Leadership Team:

Current and Recent Fellows:

2024-2025 Fellows

Ashlyn Terrell, D.O.

2023-2024 Fellows

Audrey Kim, M.D. 

Curriculum: 

Rotations through Texas Health Resources/Presbyterian, Dallas and UT Southwestern in Hyperbaric Oxygen, Diving Medicine, Wound Care, Critical Care, Podiatry, Oncology, ENT, Orthopedics, Plastic Surgery, Vascular Surgery, and Orthopedic Surgery. 

Clinical Sites 

UT Southwestern: William P. Clements, Jr. University Hospital 
Texas Health Resources Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine 

Academic Expectations 

The Fellows will complete a research project under the guidance of one of the faculty members of the Hyperbaric Medicine unit and submit an abstract or paper presentation at a national meeting or for publication. The fellow will participate in center conferences, seminars and in the education of medical students, residents, and house-staff who rotate on the service. The Fellow will participate in external rotations at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Diving Medicine Course, and / or similar courses and other rotations external to and within Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, UT Southwestern Medical Center. 

Education 

• Formal weekly lecture series 
• Longitudinal curriculum 
• Monthly journal club 
• Annual NOAA Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Course 
• Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Annual Meeting 

Clinical Competence 

• Assessment of prospective divers for fitness to dive (at least 10 patients) 
• Assessment of hyperbaric chamber personnel for fitness to participate as a tender in a multiplace hyperbaric chamber  
• Assessment of patients with suspected decompression sickness or arterial gas embolism and prescription of treatment 
• Assessment of patients with specific problem wounds with respect to indications for hyperbaric oxygen therapy, fitness for hyperbaric treatment and prescription of treatment 
• Assessment and management of patients with complications of hyperbaric therapy (at least 50 patients) 
• Management of critically-ill patients in the hyperbaric environment 
• Assessment of patients with toxic gas exposure (e.g., carbon monoxide) 
• Demonstrate competence in the knowledge of the indications and contraindications for hyperbaric oxygen therapy and dive medicine