Dr. Michael Bungo, MD

Dr. Michael W. Bungo received his medical degree from the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey, and completed his residency and fellowship training with Harvard Medical School at the New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

He is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases, cardiovascular computed tomography as well as being a certified physician executive. Dr. Bungo specializes in general cardiology, systems for the improvement of healthcare delivery, healthcare policy and the application of evidence-based medicine. He is a fellow of both the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Physicians.

A professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth in Houston, Dr. Bungo initiated the MD-MBA dual degree program at the medical school and serves as its program director. Dr. Bungo has served in numerous administrative and managerial roles within the UTHealth, including vice dean for Clinical Affairs and CEO of UT Physicians. He has also served as program director of the Graduate Medical Education Program’s Transitional Residency Program and as a member of the Medical Foundation Board.

Additional leadership positions throughout Greater Houston include several executive positions with the Harris County Medical Society, chief of staff at the Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, vice chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, and chief scientist of the Medical Sciences Division and director of the Space Biomedical Research Institute at the NASA Johnson Space Center.

Dr. Bungo’s past research includes obtaining the first echocardiographic images of the human heart in space aboard an American spacecraft. He continues to take an active interest in determining the effects of spaceflight upon the human cardiovascular system. He was the recipient of a grant from NASA entitled “Cardiac Atrophy and Diastolic Dysfunction During and After Long Duration Spaceflight: Functional Consequences for Orthostatic Intolerance, Exercise Capacity, and Risk of Cardiac Arrhythmias,” which studied astronauts’ cardiovascular responses onboard the International Space Station. Dr. Bungo has repeatedly served as reviewer for several medical journals and a grant reviewer for NASA.

The author of 44 manuscripts, 57 abstracts, 14 book chapters, 7 technical memoranda and the editor of 4 books, Dr. Bungo has been listed in Who’s Who in America since 1990 and Who’s Who in the World since 2010.