Members of the UT Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee met at UT Health San Antonio Jan. 19-20 to hear first-hand some of the amazing contributions being made by scientists and researchers at our university.
The council, made up of influential donors and supporters of the UT System, represents the core leadership group for the chancellor. The group convenes several times annually and engages in dialogue with the chancellor, UT System executive officers, UT presidents and faculty regarding special initiatives and issues of importance to higher education in Texas.
The group was welcomed to the campus by Houston businessman and chairman of the council John A. Rathmell Jr., Chancellor William H. McRaven and UT Health San Antonio President William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP.
McRaven thanked UT Health San Antonio and Dr. Henrich for hosting the event. “UT Health San Antonio is an absolutely magnificent institution doing remarkable things for the university system,” he said.
Dr. Henrich welcomed the distinguished visitors to UT Health San Antonio’s innovative Academic Learning & Teaching Center.
UT Health San Antonio is an academic medical center, and across The University of Texas System, these centers are a point of pride, Dr. Henrich said. “In each city where they exist, they are a hub of the community,” he said. “UT Health San Antonio was founded as a medical school 50 years ago, and today it is the hub of an astonishingly large $37 billion bioscience industry in San Antonio.”
The opening general session, on “Advancing the Science of Education,” focused on the work being done at UT Health San Antonio’s Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity & Aging Studies and the new Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases. The speakers included Nicolas Musi, M.D., Sudha Seshadri,, M.D., FAAN, FANA, and Tyler J. Curiel, M.D., M.P.H.
Other sessions, all presented by leading UT Health San Antonio faculty members, included “An Education on Getting an Education,” “Answering the Call–Military Health Research & Collaborations,” “To Be Precise–Innovations in Personalized Medicine” and “It’s All Connected–Convergences in Medicine.”
The evening session celebrated San Antonio as the city marks its 300th birthday. Speakers were San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, former Mayor Henry Cisneros and City Manager Sheryl Sculley.
The concluding session Jan. 20 featured an address by former president of UT Health San Antonio and chancellor of the UT System Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., a nationally renowned transplant surgeon and visionary academic leader. He discussed UT Health San Antonio’s success in improving the lives of patients challenged with organ failure and positioning UT Health San Antonio as a leading transplant center.