Message from the President: New faculty bolster city’s growing biosciences stature

By William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP

William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP
William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP

The marketplace for top-flight bioscience clinician investigators is intense and competitive. If you want the best, you offer a package to attract the best, and that includes the support of a model city like San Antonio.

Four physician scientists newly recruited to UT Health San Antonio are individuals of the highest stature in their fields. These nationally recognized experts are innovative leaders in cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and kidney disease, and their presence will certainly enhance San Antonio’s reputation as a major center of health care and the biosciences.

I’m extremely proud to report the appointments of:

Ruben Mesa, M.D., FACP, a superb clinician and investigator in the field of bone marrow cancers, who joined us in August from the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center in Greater Phoenix. He is the new director of the UT Health Cancer Center and will lead us in our developing affiliation with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Kumar Sharma, M.D., FAHA, a distinguished kidney disease specialist with expertise in diabetic kidney disease, who joined us in August from the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Sharma leads National Institutes of Health-funded studies of renal disease and will establish a Center for Renal Precision Medicine at UT Health San Antonio.

Sudha Seshadri, M.D., FAAN, FANA, an eminent clinician, researcher and educator in the field of Alzheimer’s disease, who joins us Dec. 1 from Boston University. The principal investigator of nine active National Institutes of Health grants, Dr. Seshadri is a superstar in the understanding of dementias. She will be the founding director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases, which will collaborate closely with our Sam & Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity & Aging Studies.

Robert Hromas, M.D., FACP, an eminent physician-scientist and an expert in blood cancers, who we announced on Oct. 31 as the new dean of the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio. An effective leader with developed expertise in business who assisted two institutions in becoming National Cancer Institute Cancer Centers, Dr. Hromas is joining UT Health San Antonio in February 2018 from University of Florida Health.

These outstanding individuals will contribute new energy to the region’s bioscience space, including expansion of clinical trials to provide more treatment options for patients and enhance UT Health San Antonio’s role as one of Texas’ preeminent leaders in health education, research and care.

Each brings sterling credentials and teams of skilled collaborators to our city. Each chose San Antonio over offers elsewhere. What brought them? In the end, they sensed the spirit of optimism and collaboration that defines our city. I am incredibly proud of these highly competitive recruitments and the national searches that identified these great leaders.

 



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