![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/3AD_28F_13070105_1705166366_3.jpg\")
Sixty percent of the new physicians from the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine\u2019s Class of 2025 remained in Texas for their residency training.<\/p>\nWhen the new, unified University of Texas at San Antonio was introduced to the public, it brought with it an extraordinary advantage \u2014\u00a0an alumni network of highly skilled health professionals who not only train at the highest level but also choose to stay in Texas.<\/p>\n
Their decision to build their careers locally strengthens the state\u2019s healthcare workforce, expands access to exceptional care and ensures that communities across Texas benefit directly from the talent and expertise nurtured at UT San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Sixty percent of the new physicians from the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine\u2019s Class of 2025 remained in Texas for their residency training.<\/p>\n
Most graduates from the university\u2019s six health professional schools, located at its Health Science Center, choose to remain in Texas after completing their degrees. This fact is a point of pride, but more importantly, it\u2019s a lifeline for a state facing critical shortages in nearly every health profession.<\/p>\n
In Texas, more than\u00a080% of counties<\/a>\u00a0are designated mental health\u00a0shortage areas<\/a>, and about 40% fall short of meeting primary care needs, which affects over 6 million residents. According to the\u00a0Texas Health Improvement Network<\/a>, shortages extend across medicine, nursing, dentistry and allied health as well.<\/p>\n Retaining graduates in Texas is essential to closing these gaps.<\/p>\n At UT San Antonio, 60% of the 2025 class of new physicians from the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine remained in Texas for residency training.<\/p>\n The rates are similar for graduates of other health professions who remain in the state:<\/p>\n 94% of Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduates These rates are helping ensure that thousands of practice-ready professionals enter the Texas workforce every year.<\/p>\n \u201cGraduate retention is one of the most meaningful ways we fulfill our mission to serve the public good,\u201d said\u00a0Francisco G. Cigarroa, MD<\/a>, UT San Antonio\u2019s senior executive vice president for health affairs and health system. \u201cWhen our exceptionally trained physicians, nurses, dentists, allied health professionals, scientists and public health leaders choose to remain in Texas, it means more families receiving timely, high-quality care close to home. It is a direct expression of our commitment to advance health and well-being for the communities we are privileged to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n Prepared to lead Graduates don\u2019t just stay in Texas; they are ready to lead. Students, residents, fellows and other trainees complete rotations in regional hospitals, community clinics, military facilities and rural health sites, gaining experience with patients across varied populations.<\/p>\n This experience instills both deep expertise and a steadfast commitment to the university\u2019s mission, preparing them to serve with compassion and excellence in every community they are called to support.<\/p>\n National exam results confirm their readiness. In 2025, Doctor of Physical Therapy graduates earned a 98% board pass rate; nursing graduates achieved a 95% National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) first-time pass rate, and the School of Dentistry celebrated a 100% first-time pass rate on national board exams \u2014 all higher than the national average.<\/p>\n These results, paired with faculty leadership and innovation that produces some of the\u00a0nation\u2019s top-ranked<\/a>\u00a0medical, nursing and allied health programs, including the\u00a0No. 1 dental school<\/a>\u00a0in Texas, demonstrate that UT San Antonio graduates enter the workforce with exceptional skills and confidence.<\/p>\n Local education, local impact With more than 2.5 million patient visits each year across its more than 120 specialty and subspecialty practices, UT Health San Antonio, the academic health center and health system of UT San Antonio, is the largest physician group in South Texas.<\/p>\n The clinical practice of the School of Dentistry, UT Dentistry, alone provides 123,000 patient visits annually across 18 clinics. Dental students also serve in community-based sites throughout the region, improving community health and tying students to the people and places they choose to continue serving after graduation.<\/p>\n The impact extends beyond healthcare. Nearly half of UT San Antonio\u2019s undergraduate students \u2014 many with the ambition to advance into health professional programs \u2014 are\u00a0Pell Grant recipients<\/a>, a marker of the university\u2019s national standing in advancing social mobility.<\/p>\n Combined with its academic health center\u2019s strong graduate retention, the unified UT San Antonio produces professionals who improve both health outcomes and economic stability for Texans.<\/p>\n Smart investment for Texas<\/p>\n Retaining graduates is also good business. UT Health San Antonio contributes to the local $44.1 billion healthcare and biosciences sector, employing more than 9,700 people with an annual expense budget of $1.67 billion.<\/p>\n According to a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0by the Association of American Medical Colleges, each physician supports an average of 17 jobs through direct and indirect economic activity, such as medical supply companies, housing and retail. One in every five jobs in\u00a0San Antonio<\/a>\u00a0is healthcare and bioscience related.<\/p>\n Recruiting healthcare professionals from outside the state can be costly and time-consuming, especially for rural and under-resourced communities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe retention of locally trained health professionals is vital to meeting the increasing demand for care across our rapidly growing region,\u201d Cigarroa said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen our graduates choose to remain in Texas, we not only strengthen the pipeline of talent but also work to ensure that communities have access to the physicians, nurses, dentists and allied health providers they urgently need,\u201d he added. \u201cThis commitment allows us to focus on what matters most \u2014 delivering exceptional care to every patient we serve.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the new, unified University of Texas at San Antonio was introduced to the public, it brought with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-206440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n88% of doctoral-level nursing graduates
\n64% of dental graduates
\n90% of School of Health Professions graduates, including respiratory therapists, physician assistants and speech-language pathologists<\/p>\n
\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/145_A7_13070105_3888733706_3.jpg\")
The School of Dentistry is ranked 30th worldwide and No. 1 in Texas.<\/p>\n
\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/85_19A_13070105_588125851_3.jpg\")
Two students at the Health Science Center.<\/p>\n![\"Several](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/374_2B9_13070105_3709599669_3-1.jpg\")
The School of Health Professions provides the state with experts in respiratory care, imaging sciences, occupational therapy and more.<\/p>\n