List of House characters

Main characters

Senior doctors

• Dr. Gregory House – Department Head: Diagnostic Medicine. Dr. Gregory House is a rebellious diagnostician with a double specialty in infectious disease and nephrology. Dr. House utterly lacks a bedside manner and prefers to avoid direct contact with his patients however possible. Due to an infarction in his right thigh, House lost a substantial portion of the muscle in his upper leg and must use a cane to assist with walking. As a result, House is also forced to deal with constant physical pain, which he manages through a dependency on the prescription pain medication Vicodin. Although his behavior can border on antisocial, misanthropic or sociopathic, House is viewed as a genius physician whose unconventional thinking and excellent instincts have afforded him a great deal of respect and an unusual level of tolerance from his colleagues and the medical world. House is eventually replaced by Chase after he fakes his death in the series finale, "Everybody Dies."
• Dr. Lisa Cuddy – Administration: Dean of Medicine, endocrinologist. Dr. Cuddy attended the University of Michigan for graduate studies, where she first met Gregory House. She has the distinction of being one of the few characters on the show who can match wits with the silver-tongued Dr. House in conversation and be considered one of his "friends". She often is left to pick up the pieces of House's questionable medical practices. She is also one of the few people who can stand House's hostile manner, strange requests, and his many crude habits. Although she frequently criticizes House's methods, she does trust his decisions to be in the best interest of his patients. Over the course of the show, it is seen that she is one of the few, if not only, people who would hire House at all, due to widespread disapproval of House's results-oriented methods and constant insubordination. A developing arc in season five indicates that she has very strong feelings for House; in season five's "Saviors" she refuses to answer when asked if she is in love with House, dismissing it as "a ridiculous question." House has described her as a second rate doctor. In season seven, Cuddy and House start dating but she eventually breaks up with him when he starts using Vicodin again during her health scare. She leaves the hospital after House drives his car into her house and she is replaced by Dr. Foreman in the beginning of Season 8.
• Dr. James Wilson – Department Head: Oncology. Dr. Wilson is House's best friend. Wilson is very popular and well-respected by both his colleagues and his patients, making his close friendship with the anti-social House especially puzzling to the other hospital employees. Wilson claims that his job and his "stupid, screwed up friendship" with House are the two most important things to him. He, along with Cuddy, usually finds himself aiding and abetting House's Vicodin addiction and his very eccentric methods. In Season 8, Wilson is diagnosed with cancer. Wilson is said to have 5 months to live. Wilson is one of the few people to know that House faked his death and, along with House, quits his job as a doctor.
• Dr. Eric Foreman – Assistant Department Head: Diagnostic Medicine, neurologist; attended Johns Hopkins Medical School. Of all the members of House's staff, it is strongly implied that Foreman performed better than the other fellows academically throughout college and medical school. However, during the pilot, House tells Foreman that a major factor in his hiring was the fact that he was a former juvenile delinquent who once stole cars and had 'street smarts'. As a result, he frequently voices his disapproval of House's rebellious methods and bold decisions. Foreman resigned at the end of Season 3, feeling that the more time he spent with House, the more he became like him. Foreman then took a position as Head of Diagnostic Medicine at New York Mercy Hospital. During that time, he saved a patient's life by going against their protocols, something that House frequently does. Foreman is then told that while he may have saved the patient's life, he cannot be there if he cannot be trusted to obey his senior medical officers. Foreman is then fired. Although he applied at other medical facilities, no one would hire him because of the incident, attributing it to his past association with House. He later returned to Princeton-Plainsboro because Cuddy was the only person willing to hire him after his actions. At the beginning of season 6 he was made Department Head of Diagnostic Medicine after House briefly quit but was back to being a fellow when House got his medical license reinstated. He becomes the Dean of Medicine after the departure of Cuddy in the beginning of season 8.
• Dr. Allison Cameron – Department Head: Emergency Medicine, immunologist. Cameron was written as an eager and honest character and the most empathetic of the team. Her character history reveals an early marriage to a victim of thyroid cancer, whose subsequent death had a lasting impact on her. In the first season, she has a flirtatious relationship with House, but eventually embarks upon an on-again, off-again relationship affair with Robert Chase. Cameron resigned at the end of Season 3, but returned in Season 4 as a member of the Princeton-Plainsboro Emergency Room staff. She does eventually marry Chase, although she ends up divorcing him after he intentionally killed a patient who happened to be the genocidal dictator of a war-torn third world country, stating that Chase, like House, had no regard for the sanctity of life. But during a hospital lockdown in which they're stuck in an exam room together, Cameron admits to Chase that she still hadn't gotten past her first husband's death.
• Dr. Robert Chase – Surgeon, intensive care specialist. Dr. Chase's demeanor appears to have been either influenced or enabled by House, as he has previously displayed a reputation for mocking patients behind their backs, receiving joy in watching House lay into others, finds House's antics more humorous than others do, and repeats House's mantra of "everybody lies" whenever a patient's full disclosure of any required medical history is called into question. Moreover, when suggesting treatments to diagnoses, Chase is arguably the most creative member of House's staff, often proposing unconventional treatments that had not previously been considered, but whose perceived effectiveness is generally agreed upon. Chase was fired by House at the end of Season 3, but was hired as a member of Princeton-Plainsboro's surgical staff in Season 4. He returned as a Diagnostic Fellow in Season 6. He is infamous for his intentional killing of President Dibala, an African dictator the team treated, which ended up destroying his marriage and causing him almost endless amounts of guilt despite him claiming it was the right thing to do, as Dibala would have massacred his Sitibi countrymen had he survived. Chase eventually replaces House as the Director of Diagnostic Medicine after House fakes his death in the series finale, "Everybody Dies."

  Diagnostic team

Seasons 1–3

• Dr. Allison Cameron
• Dr. Robert Chase
• Dr. Eric Foreman

  Seasons 4–5

• Dr. Eric Foreman
• Dr. Lawrence Kutner was a sports medicine specialist. Out of all the fellows, Kutner was the most enthusiastic and the one most likely to go along with House in taking risks. In the season 5 episode "Simple Explanation", Kutner died by suicide. Actor Kal Penn needed to depart from the series to work in the Obama Administration, hence his character being written out of the show.
• Dr. Chris Taub is a plastic surgeon who has proved adept at, like House, working around the "rules" that Cuddy imposes. Ironically, Cuddy suggested that Taub become a member of House's new diagnostic team because his knowledge and combative nature would be able to keep House focused. Though married, he had already cheated on his wife, and has made comments that suggest he would be willing to do so again. After he divorces his wife, he has two illegitimate children, one each with his ex-wife and a nurse at the hospital.
• Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley is an internist. Her nickname originates in the numbers that House assigned to each of his fellowship applications in "The Right Stuff", with hers being #13. She is noted for the many mysteries surrounding her character.

  Season 6

• Dr. Gregory House is a temporary consultant for the Department of Diagnostic Medicine while waiting to be reinstated. He later returns to the position of Head of Department in "Teamwork".
• Dr. Eric Foreman is the temporary Head of Diagnostic Medicine between "Epic Fail" and "Known Unknowns".
• Dr. Allison Cameron returns temporarily to the diagnostic team between "The Tyrant" and "Teamwork".
• Dr. Robert Chase returns to the diagnostic team in "The Tyrant".
• Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley is fired from the diagnostic team in "Epic Fail" and returns in "Teamwork".
• Dr. Chris Taub quits the team in "Epic Fail" and returns in "Teamwork".