Dr. Gathe, who serves as the co-director of the COVID-19 Dedicated Care Unit at the United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC), said he got a call one day from Dr. Varon, and they began discussing patients they had recently seen that had been getting sick with this unusual new virus.

Since they began working together after establishing the COVID-19 Dedicated Care Unit at UMMC, none of the COVID-19 patients under the care and treatment of Dr. Gathe and Dr. Varon at UMMC to date have died.

Dr. Varon and UMMC have gone even further in their commitment to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, as they have opened up numerous drive-thru testing sites across the Greater Houston area to tackle the virus and provide FREE testing to the community.

“The COVID-19 pandemic gave Dr. Gathe and I the best opportunity to put our minds together and address this virus and it has allowed us to be real doctors working together again to save lives and make a difference,” said Dr. Varon.

In order to further help address the disproportionately affecting the African American community, Dr. Gathe and Dr. Varon have also formed a new nonprofit organization called the Cure COVID Consortium (CCC), which will use 100% of the funds they receive to offer a state of the art, comprehensive program for COVID-19 prevention efforts, a comprehensive testing program, and direct inpatient and outpatient medical care for those infected with the virus and for treatment that will be needed for vulnerable communities across the greater Houston area.