Hemant Vankawala MD

Hemant Vankawala is father, husband, traveler and ER doc. His formal education includes a B.A. in biology from Trinity University in San Antonio, an M.S. in biology from the University of North Texas, and an M.D. from University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. He completed his residency training in emergency medicine with Texas Tech at Thomason Hospital in El Paso, Texas.

Vankawala has worked a variety of clinical settings from in free standing ERs to busy community hospitals to large urban Level 1 trauma centers. He has also been the EMS co-medical director for Big Bend National Park and Terlingua Fire & EMS since 2004.

He is a co-founder of Emerus Hospitals where he has worn many hats ranging from front office staffer to line doc to chief medical information officer. Emerus is considered the originator of the “micro hospital,” smaller capital-efficient health care facilities that have set the standard for operational excellence by delivering superior margins and patient-satisfaction scores. This model has allowed for rapid expansion in a market as well as an ability to quickly test innovative solutions in a smaller regional setting. In addition, Emerus pioneered the creation and development of the microhospital healthplex, which provides most of the basic needs for a community, from primary care to imaging to emergency treatments, in a single, smaller hospital footprint.