How to Choose an Endocrinologist in Houston: Academic Centers, Community Offices and County Clinics

Houston has endocrine care in medical schools, hospital systems, suburban offices, county clinics and a cancer center. The right setting depends on what your doctor wants evaluated, how often you will need to return and how you pay for care. This guide compares the options using what each program says on its own official pages, so you can have a sharper conversation with the doctor who referred you.

Start with three questions

1. What does your referring doctor want the specialist to look at? A thyroid nodule, diabetes, bone density, a pituitary or adrenal finding, or a known or suspected tumor can point to different settings.
2. Where can you get to for repeat visits? If you expect follow-up appointments, travel time matters.
3. How will you pay? Your insurance network, or not having insurance, may narrow the list before anything else does.

The main settings at a glance

Academic programs in the Texas Medical Center area

Academic programs combine patient care with training future specialists. Here is what each one says about itself.

Baylor College of Medicine

The Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism in Baylor's Department of Medicine has over 30 faculty and covers diabetes, obesity, thyroid, adrenal and pituitary disorders. It runs an endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism fellowship. The section says U.S. News & World Report ranks the Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center endocrinology program among the top 50 in the country, without stating the year.

Houston Methodist

Houston Methodist's Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism program lists diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, lipid disorders, and endocrine and metabolic disorders, and it cites U.S. News recognition for diabetes and endocrinology. Its community offices are covered below.

UTHealth Houston McGovern Medical School

The Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism lists its address as 6431 Fannin, MSB 5.104, Houston, TX 77030. Its patient care page says clinics cover general endocrinology, reproductive endocrinology and metabolic bone disease, and that the division performs thyroid ultrasounds and ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsies. Its physicians practice at several Greater Houston sites, including Harris Health outpatient clinics.

Memorial Hermann

Third-party directories list Memorial Hermann Medical Group endocrinology offices near the Texas Medical Center, but we could not confirm them on Memorial Hermann's official site, so we don't list addresses here. If Memorial Hermann is in your network, check its official physician directory or call the system directly.

Community offices outside the Medical Center

For a long-term condition, a nearby office can make follow-up easier. Houston Methodist Endocrinology Associates lists three community offices on its official pages:

• Kings Harbor
• The Woodlands
• Willowbrook

Each office page describes care for diabetes, thyroid disease, osteoporosis, and pituitary and adrenal disease. We have not yet verified independent practices elsewhere in the region. To build your own shortlist, use the Texas Medical Board's Look Up a License tool, which can search by city, zip code and specialty. The board does not recommend physicians, so treat results as names to check, not endorsements.

County care: Harris Health System

Harris Health System is the county's public health system. UTHealth's endocrinology division says its doctors work at Harris Health outpatient clinics such as Smith Clinic. A Baylor College of Medicine faculty profile lists these Harris Health locations:

Harris Health's Thomas Street at Quentin Mease Health Center is an HIV care center that lists endocrinology among its services, which may be useful if you already receive care there.

Endocrine tumors: MD Anderson

MD Anderson's Department of Endocrine Neoplasia and Hormonal Disorders, part of its Division of Internal Medicine, focuses on cancers of the endocrine glands. Its Oncologic Endocrinology Fellowship page describes faculty who treat tumors of the thyroid, adrenal glands, parathyroid, pituitary and pancreas. If you have been told you have, or may have, one of these tumors, ask your doctor whether a cancer-center opinion is appropriate.

Matching your situation to listed services

This table does not tell you where to go. It shows which programs publicly list the service your doctor has mentioned, so you know where to ask.

Getting to the Texas Medical Center

Several sites above, including UTHealth's endocrinology division and Harris Health's Smith Clinic, have addresses in the 77030 zip code, the Texas Medical Center area. We have not verified transit routes or parking. Check METRO for bus and rail options and the Texas Medical Center for campus information before your first trip. Once you have picked a setting, our first appointment guide covers referrals and what to bring.