LOCAL Houston | The City Guide APRIL 2016 | Page 58

LOCALICON

ROBERT THOMAS SOLIS
CHIEF OF PULMONARY MEDICINE AND MEDICAL
DIRECTOR OF THE INTENSIVE CARE UNITS AS
WELL AS OF THE RESPIRATORY CARE DEPARTMENT AND THE PULMONARY AND SLEEP LABS

ROBERT THOMAS SOLIS IS AN 8TH-GENERATION TEXAN, HUSBAND TO
BARBARA SOLIS FOR 45 YEARS, AND FATHER OF THREE WOMEN (NATURALLY
MAKING HIM A FEMINIST) AND A SON. SOLIS IS NEARING THE END OF A
40-PLUS YEAR CAREER AT ST. LUKE’S EPISCOPAL HOSPITAL WHERE HE WAS
THE CHIEF OF PULMONARY MEDICINE AND MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF THE
INTENSIVE CARE UNITS AS WELL AS OF THE RESPIRATORY CARE DEPARTMENT AND THE PULMONARY AND SLEEP LABS. HE IS PROUD OF HIS
HISPANIC HERITAGE; HIS FAMILY STARTED RANCHING IN SOUTH TEXAS IN
1753. TODAY HE SPLITS HIS TIME BETWEEN AN ART-FILLED LOFT OVERLOOKING THE MUSEUM DISTRICT (HE IS AN AVID SUPPORTER/COLLECTOR OF
CONTEMPORARY ART) AND HIS RANCH IN CENTRAL TEXAS.

What led you to pursue a career in pulmonary medicine?
Especially with the legacy of your family as ranchers.
Although we are a ranching family, all of my father’s and my generation’s men
became doctors. When I was 19 and a premed student at Texas A&M, I was
kicked out of t