SAN ANTONIO (Sept. 29, 2014) — William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, today announced the establishment of the Military Health Institute (MHI). This new entity will lead innovative medical research, health education and clinical care to enhance military collaborations with the goal of improving the health and well-being of military personnel, veterans and their families.
Dr. Henrich said retired Maj. Gen. Byron C. Hepburn, M.D., will be the MHI’s inaugural director, effective Oct. 1. Dr. Hepburn is a former commander of the 59th Medical Wing, Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.
“The Health Science Center has enjoyed a longstanding and rich relationship with our nation’s military medicine leadership,” Dr. Henrich said in an email to faculty, staff and students. “Many founding Health Science Center faculty, as well as a large number of current faculty, staff and students, have served our nation proudly in one of the uniformed services. In addition, over the years, the Health Science Center has forged a strong and collaborative relationship with the region’s military medicine system and we play an important role in research, education, clinical care and community programs that benefit active-duty military personnel, veterans and their families. The MHI will further these strong relationships.”
The MHI will seek to expand upon the unique resources of the military system in San Antonio in combination with the articulated strengths of the Health Science Center. It will develop new opportunities for learners (medical students, residents and fellows at the Health Science Center and San Antonio Military Health System [SAMHS]), investigators (faculty at the Health Science Center, staff at the SAMHS and personnel at the Department of Defense, the Veterans Administration and the National Institutes of Health), and, where possible, patients (clinical care delivery at the Health Science Center and in the SAMHS).
Dr. Hepburn has had a distinguished military career of 38 years. Prior to his selection as commander of the 59th Medical Wing, where he led the Air Force’s largest medical wing composed of 6,000 military, civilian, contract employees, residents and students, he served as deputy surgeon general of the U.S. Air Force. In that role, he directed all operations of the Air Force Medical Service, a $5.1 billion, 43,000-person integrated health care delivery system serving 2.4 million beneficiaries at 75 military treatment facilities worldwide.
Dr. Hepburn is a distinguished graduate of the U.S Air Force Academy and one of only a few U.S. Air Force pilot-physicians. He completed a residency in family practice and will hold an appointment as professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Family and Community Medicine. He will also hold the titles of assistant dean for military health in the School of Medicine and associate vice president.
Visit the Military Health Institute website for more information.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving National Institutes of Health funding. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced more than 29,000 graduates. The $765 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.