Research and Teaching
Faculty excellence at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, also called UT Health San Antonio, is demonstrated by faculty members’ participation on many national advisory and governing boards and by their election to high offices in national and professional societies. Faculty recruitment efforts emphasize research as well as teaching. The university is the largest academic research institution in San Antonio and South Texas, and receives millions of dollars annually in new research, training and public service grants and contracts for hundreds of projects. The university endowment is growing at an impressive rate.
With the cooperation of medical institutions in the area, basic and clinical research are both underway in such fields as cancer, aging, genetics, immunology, cardiovascular disorders, nutrition, arthritis, osteoporosis, psychiatric disorders, AIDS, new drug development and reproductive biology. UT Health San Antonio partners include The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), the Audie L. Murphy Division of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, Trinity University, St. Mary’s University, the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, Southwest Research Institute, the 311th Human Systems Wing at Brooks City Base and the San Antonio Military Medical Center.
There are several university institutes devoted to research, teaching and patient care. These include the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, the Institute for Drug Development and the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases. In 2020, the UT System Board of Regents approved plans for a $443 million UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty and Research Hospital, which will feature 144 beds, 12 operating rooms, an intensive care unit, infusion center, emergency department, pharmacy, laboratories and an imaging center. Construction is expected to be completed in 2024.
The Robert F. McDermott Clinical Science Building, on the Greehey Academic and Research Campus, houses the Research Imaging Institute, as well as research labs and teaching facilities for the clinical pharmacology and clinical pharmacy programs, and the ophthalmology department.
The Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute (GCCRI) is a unique and specialized cancer research center located at UT Health San Antonio’s Greehey Academic and Research Campus. The mission of the GCCRI is to advance scientific knowledge relevant to childhood cancer and to accelerate the translation of knowledge into novel therapies. Through discovery, development and dissemination of scientific knowledge relevant to childhood cancer, the overarching aim of the GCCRI is to impact the scourge of cancer at all ages.
The Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, is one of the elite academic cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center, and is one of only four in Texas. A leader in developing new drugs to treat cancer, the Institute for Drug Development conducts one of the largest oncology Phase I clinical drug programs in the world, and participates in development of cancer drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The Medical Arts and Research Center is home to UT Health Physicians, the clinical practice of the university's Long School of Medicine. With more than 1,400 providers — including 900 physicians who are all university faculty members — UT Health Physicians is the largest medical practice in Central and South Texas, practicing in more than 100 medical specialties and subspecialties. Located in the South Texas Medical Center at 8300 Floyd Curl Dr., the facility features state-of-the-art clinics, diagnostic imaging, an ambulatory center, endoscopic suites, operating rooms, physicians' offices and a pharmacy. It complements community physicians who are invited to refer complex cases to UT Health San Antonio specialists and subspecialists.
The South Texas Research Facility (STRF), completed in 2011, houses the university’s state-of-the-art Optical Imaging Core Facility and the Bioanalytics and Single Cell Core Lab, as well as the Office of Technology Commercialization.
The Center for Oral Health Care and Research, completed in 2015, is located next door to UT Health San Antonio's Medical Arts and Research Center and is the home of the School of Dentistry's patient practice, UT Dentistry. The 198,000-square-foot facility provides for all aspects of students', residents', faculty and patients' clinical experiences and creates an environment that supports the finest in comprehensive and multispecialty patient care.
The Academic Learning and Teaching Center (ALTC) is the newest building on the university's Long Campus. Dedicated in 2016, the 130,000-square-foot ALTC features 33 ultra-modern classrooms, strategic learning spaces and a state-of-the-art digital anatomy laboratory with 3D interactive imaging capabilities. The largest ALTC classrooms can accommodate 280 students, and smaller seminar rooms seat 12-18. In every room, the technology and furniture design encourages active learning.