President’s Forum focuses on innovation, discovery; introduces innovation hub
Igniting hope and sparking discovery were at the heart of the President’s Forum during Spirit Week, Thursday, Oct. 24.
During the well-attended event, UT Health San Antonio Acting President Robert Hromas, MD, FACP, provided updates about significant innovations and discoveries at the university’s six schools and announced the launch of an innovation hub to ignite ideas.
Hromas also looked ahead to exciting projects underway — from the integration process with The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) to the future development of 44 acres in the medical center as part of the university’s master plan and the December opening of the UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty and Research Hospital.
“That’s what today is all about, the innovation that takes us to that next level of greatness,” Hromas said.
Sparking innovations
As part of UT Health San Antonio’s continued effort to spark discovery and innovation, Hromas invited the university community to visit a newly created Innovation Hub — a digital platform where employees can submit concise, feasible, innovative ideas by Jan. 1.
A team will review the first 1,000 ideas submitted and awards will be announced on Jan. 31. Those submitting an idea that will be implemented will receive $500. If the innovation works, they will receive another $1,000.
Join the Innovation Hub platform and submit an idea.
For added inspiration, see some of the latest innovations from the university’s six schools below.
- The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences’ submission of two new programs:
- Master of Science in Drug Discovery and Development
- Graduate certificate in Medical Physics
- The School of Dentistry‘s establishment of three new research centers to foster collaboration and central support services to facilitate innovation.
- The School of Health Professions‘ swallow exercise therapy for Parkinson’s disease.
- The School of Nursing‘s Prostate Cancer Education Resources for Couples using web-based platforms to improve prostate cancer survivorship care and extending personalized support to underserved populations.
- The Long School of Medicine was selected among 10 medical schools in the U.S. to participate in The FORWARD Initiative to support improvements in obesity education and care.
- The UT School of Public Health San Antonio future participation in the Community Action Research for Air Equity (CARE) Program using machine learning and citizen scientists to generate air quality data in San Antonio’s high-risk areas.
Integration progress
As the multi-year integration planning process with UTSA continues, Hromas said there is already great collaboration between the two institutions, noting that a steering committee of senior leaders from both institutions has been created to provide input, and in some instances, serve as task force leads and participate in site visits to aspirant peer institutions to assess their integration strategies and best practices. A few task forces have already been created and there will be a call for broader participation in working groups in the future.
Among the task forces created is the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Accreditation Task Force. Once the commission votes on a plan to be submitted in June 2025, the institutions will be integrated in terms of accreditation. Operational integration, however, will take multiple years.
One aspirational goal for the merged institution is to become a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), comprised of the nation’s leading research universities including the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina and the University of Florida.
“We will be the third-largest research university in the state of Texas, and by joining together, our budget will be … about $2.2 billion,” Hromas said, adding that the synergy between UT the two institutions is remarkable.
A benefit of the integration will be the potential to apply UTSA’s expertise in cyber security and artificial intelligence to the molecular biology, epidemiology and the translational research in clinical trials.
Share your feedback on the integrated mission statement
One of the first steps in the merger effort is approving an integrated mission statement that speaks to the future of the combined university while holding to the values that drive the missions from both institutions.
Hromas shared the proposed integrated mission statement:
Mission statement: The mission of The University of Texas at San Antonio is to make lives better by advancing excellence in education, research and discovery, health, public service, and community engagement.”
Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to give their feedback on the words or phrases that resonate by entering a question or suggestion in the question field at the top of this feedback page.
A promising future
As part of the university’s master plan, 44 acres of real estate north of the campus is expected to be slated for development into Discovery Park, a space dedicated to research including phase one clinical trials and the development of a specialized center for chronic disease care for patients living with diseases such as mental illness, dementia, substance use disorders and liver, kidney, cardiac, or pulmonary failure.
“Nobody’s really thinking about, how do I care for a patient that’s going to die of dementia 12 years from now?” Hromas said. “How do I take care of a patient on dialysis who’s going to live 15 years? What’s the comprehensive, complex care of a patient with a chronic disease? But we are and we will continue to.”
The development of the 44 acres will require approval by The University of Texas System Board of Regents.
Hospital opening soon
After the UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty and Research Hospital opens Dec. 10 with a phased opening plan, we will move forward with seeking approval and other designations from The Joint Commission.
Based on the needs of our community, more than half of the hospital will be dedicated to serving cancer patients while also offering both routine and complex surgeries for other subspecialties.
In mid-2025, the plan is to have 144 beds operational and as well as an Advanced Care Clinic for patients needing emergent care run by emergency medicine physicians. The hospital will be physically connected the Mays Cancer Center, so patients can go back and forth for radiation therapy or other procedures.
The hospital will also be equipped with the latest technology to include robots to assist care teams with retrieval and delivery of equipment and supplies and will feature state-of-the art operating rooms and technologies.
A tour of the hospital will be available on Nov. 13 from 4–6 p.m. Click here to register.
One chip at a time
Hromas reflected on a memory his mother shared about the fall of the Berlin Wall. She had been there in 1989 and recalled that one young man with a sledgehammer came out, followed by others with pickaxes. Eventually there were thousands of people working to knock the wall down.
Hromas held a piece of the wall that his mother brought home to him as a reminder that “nothing is set in stone” and by taking one step at a time, people can accomplish seemingly monumental goals.
“What you do is you chip away,” he said. “You knock it down one chip at a time. We can create a hospital health system. We can create better lives for all South Texas, if each one of you just knocks one chip away from that wall.”