diff --git a/composer/callbacks/health_checker.py b/composer/callbacks/health_checker.py
index b052bb47cb..272a612eae 100644
--- a/composer/callbacks/health_checker.py
+++ b/composer/callbacks/health_checker.py
@@ -3,26 +3,18 @@
 
 """Check GPU Health during training."""
 import logging
+import os
 from collections import deque
 from datetime import datetime
 from typing import List, Optional, Tuple
 
-import torch
-
-try:
-    import pynvml
-except ImportError:
-    pynvml = None
-
-import os
-
 import numpy as np
-from slack_sdk.webhook import WebhookClient
+import torch
 
 from composer.core import Callback, State
 from composer.core.time import Timestamp
 from composer.loggers import Logger
-from composer.utils import dist
+from composer.utils import MissingConditionalImportError, dist
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -69,6 +61,14 @@ def __init__(
         if not self.slack_webhook_url:
             self.slack_webhook_url = os.environ.get('SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL', None)
 
+        if self.slack_webhook_url:
+            # fail fast if missing import
+            try:
+                import slack_sdk
+                del slack_sdk
+            except ImportError as e:
+                raise MissingConditionalImportError('health_checker', 'slack_sdk', None) from e
+
         self.last_sample = 0
         self.last_check = 0
 
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ def _alert(self, message: str, state: State) -> None:
 
         logging.warning(message)
         if self.slack_webhook_url:
+            from slack_sdk.webhook import WebhookClient
             client = WebhookClient(url=self.slack_webhook_url)
             client.send(text=message)
 
@@ -141,12 +142,13 @@ def _is_available() -> bool:
         if not torch.cuda.is_available():
             return False
         try:
+            import pynvml
             pynvml.nvmlInit()  # type: ignore
             return True
+        except ImportError:
+            raise MissingConditionalImportError('health_checker', 'pynvml', None)
         except pynvml.NVMLError_LibraryNotFound:  # type: ignore
             logging.warning('NVML not found, disabling GPU health checking')
-        except ImportError:
-            logging.warning('pynvml library not found, disabling GPU health checking.')
         except Exception as e:
             logging.warning(f'Error initializing NVML: {e}')
 
@@ -168,13 +170,18 @@ def sample(self) -> None:
                 self.samples.append(sample)
 
     def _sample(self) -> Optional[List]:
+        try:
+            import pynvml
+        except ImportError:
+            raise MissingConditionalImportError('health_checker', 'pynvml', None)
+
         try:
             samples = []
-            device_count = pynvml.nvmlDeviceGetCount()  # type: ignore
+            device_count = pynvml.nvmlDeviceGetCount()
             for i in range(device_count):
-                handle = pynvml.nvmlDeviceGetHandleByIndex(i)  # type: ignore
-                samples.append(pynvml.nvmlDeviceGetUtilizationRates(handle).gpu)  # type: ignore
-        except pynvml.NVMLError:  # type: ignore
+                handle = pynvml.nvmlDeviceGetHandleByIndex(i)
+                samples.append(pynvml.nvmlDeviceGetUtilizationRates(handle).gpu)
+        except pynvml.NVMLError:
             return None
         return samples