UT Health San Antonio, working in partnership with University Health, is key to sustaining our community’s well-being and economic growth. w
Christopher Lee/Staff Photographer
Samuel G. Dawson is CEO of Pape-Dawson.
Courtesy of Samuel G. Dawson
My family and I are the recent beneficiaries of the care at both the University of Texas Health and University Health.
What stood out was not just the quality of the hospitals and the intellect, knowledge and professionalism of the staff, but the level of care and compassion of all involved.
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To put this in perspective, my mom cried when she left both hospitals.
But maybe above it all was the seamless coordination between physicians affiliated with UT Health San Antonio and University Health.
Specialists, residents and attending physicians worked together as one unit. It was clear we were witnessing not separate institutions but a unified system of care — one built on trust, shared training and shared purpose.
This relationship is not new. It is the product of decades of intentional alignment between an academic medical center and a public hospital system — each bringing different strengths but sharing a common mission.
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UT Health San Antonio was established to educate physicians, nurses and biomedical researchers while advancing scientific discovery and patient care.
University Health, as a public health system, has long served as the community’s clinical backbone — providing care to all, regardless of ability to pay, and acting as a real-world training ground for those students and physicians.
Together, they have created something more powerful than either could alone: an integrated ecosystem where education, research and patient care reinforce one another.
That collaboration has only deepened over time. Agreements have been renewed, partnerships expanded, and more recently, broader institutional integration efforts across San Antonio have reinforced the idea that academic medicine and public health delivery must move forward together — not separately.
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In a growing city like San Antonio — one facing rising population, persistent health disparities and increasing demand for care — this partnership is essential.
When medical students train alongside practicing physicians in real clinical environments, they stay. When researchers collaborate with clinicians, breakthroughs reach patients faster. When public hospitals and academic institutions align, communities receive better, more coordinated care.
This is how a city builds not just a health care system but a health care economy. It drives jobs, attracts investment and fuels innovation. It is why San Antonio is increasingly recognized as a national hub for life sciences and medical research. But most importantly, it saves lives.
Partnerships like this are built over decades, and they can be weakened far more quickly.
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Any effort — whether political, financial or structural — that disrupts this collaboration risks more than institutional friction. It risks the training pipeline for future health care professionals, the speed and effectiveness of medical research translation, and the quality and accessibility of care for patients across our region
In short, it risks the very system that makes San Antonio a leader in health care.
San Antonio has something special.
Not every city has a public hospital system and an academic health center working in lockstep, aligned in mission and mutually reinforcing in practice.
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Today, bioscience, health care and biomedical research form the No. 1 industry in San Antonio, employing roughly 1 in 6 people across our region. That is not just an economic statistic, it is a statement about who we are. We are a city where healing, discovery and care are central to our identity.
We should not take that for granted. We should protect it. Strengthen it. Invest in it.
When 1 in 6 of our neighbors in Bexar County works in health care, and when every family — at some point — relies on it, this collaboration is so much more than just an institutional arrangement. It is a public good, and it is one we must never put at risk.
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Samuel G. Dawson is CEO of Pape-Dawson.
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