SAN ANTONIO (Dec. 4, 2009) — Donald J. Dudley, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, was awarded the Texas Perinatal Physician Excellence Award for Public Health Region 8 earlier this year by the March of Dimes.
Dr. Dudley, who sees patients as part of the School of Medicine practice group, UT Medicine San Antonio, is on the forefront of research in perinatal health. He is co-principal investigator for the National Children’s Study, a $33 million study to assess the effects of environmental and genetic factors on children’s health. The Health Science Center is one of the institutions nationwide selected to conduct this massive study.
Dr. Dudley also served as an investigator on the MOTOR study looking at how gum disease might affect pregnant women. MOTOR stands for Maternal Oral Therapy to Reduce Obstetric Risk trial.
He also directs the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network, a Health Science Center collaboration with the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District and 11 hospitals to study the scope and causes of stillbirth.
Dr. Dudley is director of the maternal-fetal medicine fellowship and vice chairman for research in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, and is a scientific member of the ob-gyn panel of physicians at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $668 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $16.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $36 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 25,600 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and other health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, dentistry and many other fields. For more information, visit www.uthscsa.edu.