For the 1,162 spring and summer graduates receiving their hard-earned degrees from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) on May 17, their accomplishment was also their promise — to go forward in their employment or advanced training and research and endeavor to improve human health and well-being.
“You are choosing a path of discipline, empathy and service — a path that calls you to heal, to discover and to lead. Because of your choice, the world is already better tonight,” said Francisco G. Cigarroa, MD, the university’s senior executive vice president for Health Affairs and Health System. Cigarroa was one of three leaders providing commencement remarks built on a theme of service to others.
In addition to the proud parents, family members and friends in attendance, university faculty and staff were on hand to cheer the students they had taught and mentored and to applaud their milestone achievements as these graduates now transition to their professional roles as health care providers and medical research scientists. Many among the Class of 2025 will help fill critical workforce needs locally, throughout South Texas and across the state.
View photos and video highlights of commencement festivities, including a confetti moment, as well as social media hooding ceremony highlights for the School of Medicine and School of Dentistry and a livestream of the commencement procession for the School of Health Professions.
Graduates at a glimpse
According to the health science center’s Office of Institutional Research, since the university’s inception, the total number of graduates after this summer’s conferral of degrees will surpass 45,000 (45,114), with nearly 50,000 (49,429) degrees awarded.
Here is how the Class of 2025’s spring and summer candidates contribute to those totals:
- 383 from the School of Health Professions, including 48 Doctor of Occupational Therapy and 46 Master of Science in Speech Language Pathology degrees.
- 271 from the School of Nursing, including 233 Bachelor of Science in Nursing and 31 Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees.
- 223 from the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine, including 215 Doctor of Medicine and 8 Master of Deaf Education and Hearing Science degrees.
- 177 from the School of Dentistry, including 108 Doctor of Dental Surgery and 23 Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene degrees.
- 108 from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, including 37 Doctorate of Pharmacy and 8 Master of Science in Personalized Molecular Medicine degrees.
These five schools opened to students within a span of 10 years between 1966 and 1976. The University of Texas School of Public Health San Antonio — the university’s sixth school — began accepting students in fall 2024 and anticipates its first cohort of graduates in 2026.
Of special note this year, the Master of Science in Imaging Sciences program in the School of Health Professions celebrated the graduation of 18 students in its first cohort. Designed to develop clinical competence with registry-eligible certifications in radiography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists, the new program welcomed its first students in fall 2023.
Read the inspirational stories of five Class of 2025 graduates.
A throughline of innovation and compassion
In addition to Cigarroa, who served as the university’s president from 2000 to 2009, commencement speakers included President Emeritus John P. Howe III, MD — who served in the role from 1985 to 2000 — and Taylor Eighmy, PhD, the health science center’s current acting president. As of Sept. 1, 2025, Eighmy will become president of UT San Antonio, the third-largest research university in Texas resulting from the integration of UT Health San Antonio and The University of Texas at San Antonio.
In their remarks to graduates, the three leaders sketched the rich history of the institution’s growth, providing perspectives of past, present and future accomplishments and the role that students and alumni have played in shaping the institution’s central mission of advancing excellence and innovation and leading with compassion.
Take a video tour of the foundational events and milestones of UT Health San Antonio: Firsts That Last: A Visual History.
Spreading medical diplomacy
In his remarks, Howe recounted his memories of the “visionaries, dreamers and doers who shared in the belief that San Antonio and South Texas deserved a world-class academic health center.” He identified early leaders who spearheaded the creation of the South Texas Medical School, which later became UT Health San Antonio. And he invited graduates to consider their own futures in the context of past trailblazers.
Howe shared of his own professional journey as a cardiologist, professor, dean and university president, followed by the opportunity to serve as president and CEO of Project Hope, a global health foundation serving people and programs in 35 countries.
“Never as a young medical school graduate could I have imagined I would later be thanked by the president of China, Jiang Zemin, for developing a 1,000-bed children’s hospital in Shanghai, the first in China, for children with congenital heart disease; or be asked by the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Vern Clark, to fully staff the Navy’s 1,000-bed hospital ship, Mercy, with volunteer physicians, nurses and allied health professionals in response to the tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia; or be asked by the first lady, Laura Bush, to lead the creation of a state-of-the-art children’s cancer hospital in Basrah, Iraq,” Howe said.
His heartfelt request for the Class of 2025: “That each of you become the next generation of champions for health-related teaching, research and clinical care to build on the success of those who came before you.”
Healing, discovery, service
“This university has always been guided by a covenant — a deeply held promise to serve others with integrity, compassion and purpose,” said Cigarroa. “It is a commitment to the public good, to the pursuit of knowledge that uplifts communities and to a calling greater than ourselves: to make lives better.”
Cigarroa noted that this covenant has never been more clearly reflected than in the resilience, excellence and unwavering dedication of this graduating class, citing specific challenges for the Class of 2025, including persevering through the end of a global pandemic.
“You have emerged stronger, wiser and more committed to the ideals that define those who devote their lives to healing, discovery and service,” Cigarroa said.
So, too, has the institution exhibited resilience and perseverance through the decades, with leaders driven by a deep commitment to advancing knowledge that serves humanity, noted Cigarroa. He cited the launch of the Campaign for the Future of Health during his presidency that ultimately raised more than $353 million to support the institution’s mission.
Among many notable expansions to the academic and research enterprise Cigarroa cited:
- Modernizing clinical practices through the Medical Arts and Research Center.
- Building crucial partnerships such as the University Transplant Center with University Health.
- Extending the university’s reach to the Rio Grande Valley with campuses in Harlingen, Edinburg and Laredo.
- Establishing the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics “to ensure that our students not only excel in science, but are also grounded in compassion, integrity and the moral purpose that defines truly ethical care,” said Cigarroa.
“This moment in time — so full of promise and possibility — is beautifully reflected in you. In hospitals, clinics, research laboratories and in the communities you will serve, your talents will be urgently needed. Your compassion will be a source of strength and hope. Your expertise will be a light. And your leadership will chart the way forward.”
Cigarroa told graduates that they now join a proud lineage of alumni who carry forward the institution’s highest values. He ended his remarks by acknowledging that the Class of 2025 is, in fact, already part of the next important transition of the institution — that of integrating more deeply with colleagues at The University of Texas at San Antonio and shaping a new model for what public higher education and public health can achieve together to serve Texas with greater reach and deeper impact.
The bridge to what we become
Underscoring the significance of this moment, Eighmy concurred that this commencement ceremony was not only a culmination, but also a new beginning.
“You are the proud class of 2025 — and you are stepping into a future unlike any other class before you. You are the final graduates under the proud name of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio — a name synonymous with excellence, discovery, compassion and impact,” said Eighmy. “You also hold the honor of seeing us through our next great transformation: the integration of UT Health San Antonio and The University of Texas at San Antonio.”
Eighmy paid homage to revered past president William L. Henrich, MD, MACP, who served the institution from 2009 to 2024, and whose unexpected passing in March 2024 has been mourned by the entire university community and beyond.
“I also want to recognize someone who cannot be here with us in person, but who is here in spirit with each and every one of you,” Eighmy said. He recounted the 15 years of visionary leadership Henrich provided as president of UT Health San Antonio, presiding over the most expansive era in the university’s history, marked by $1 billion in transformational projects that are reshaping health care and biomedical research in San Antonio — including the Multispecialty and Research Hospital, UT Health at Kyle Seale Parkway and the Center for Brain Health opening this December.
“A highly respected physician and researcher himself, Dr. Henrich understood the power of discovery on a deeply personal level,” said Eighmy. “He championed a culture of compassion, excellence and innovation that lives on in all of us.” Eighmy encouraged graduates to embrace the notion that they are “a reflection of the learning environment Dr. Henrich so thoughtfully shaped, and the very embodiment of what he believed to be the greatest good: going into the world to make it better.”
Eighmy acknowledged that the world that graduates enter today demands collaboration, innovation and unwavering commitment to service.
“It demands that we not only treat disease, but also tackle the root causes of barriers to better health. That we not only conduct research, but also translate discoveries rapidly to improve lives. That we not only educate, but also inspire the next generation of changemakers. As we embark on this exciting merger, we are guided by one unwavering purpose that was especially championed by Dr. Henrich — to make lives better. This commitment to discovery, education and service will not diminish. It will only grow stronger and deeper at scale,” Eighmy said.
A future where collaboration across disciplines fuels groundbreaking research, where the boundaries between science, health care, technology and innovation dissolve, and where the opportunities to serve our communities are boundless will propel this new university to redefine what is possible for higher education, for health sciences and for the countless lives its graduates will touch, said Eighmy.
“And so, Class of 2025, I urge you: Dream boldly. Act courageously. Serve generously. Innovate fearlessly. Lead with compassion. Know that you are the bridge from what we have been to what we are becoming — and that your journey is only just beginning.”