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MILITARY
MEDICINE
Overview and
Introduction for
the Military Health
Institute
By Byron C. Hepburn, MD and Dean Ronald Rodriguez
We established the Military Health Institute (MHI) at UT Health The work being done by UT Health San Antonio faculty mem-
San Antonio in 2014. Our mission is to enhance the collaborative bers is broad and comprehensive. Consider the work of Alan Peter-
efforts of our university with local, state and federal government, son, Ph.D., who is conducting ground-breaking research in PTSD
and non-governmental organizations, to improve the health and re- and has formed the STRONG STAR Consortium and the Consor-
siliency of our nation's military service members, veterans and their tium to Alleviate PTSD. Additionally, the clinical experience and
families through advances in education, research, and health care. research of one of our trauma surgeons, Dr. Donald Jenkins, has re-
sulted in a number of life-saving techniques and procedures.
The genesis of our mission is threefold: First, we have a long his-
tory of military collaboration at UT Health San Antonio — nine These are but two examples of many. In this issue of San Antonio
percent of faculty and staff on our campus have a military back- Medicine magazine, you’ll find a number of articles that speak to
ground; second, we live in Military City, USA (San Antonio); and the groundbreaking advances by researchers at UT Health San An-
third, quite simply, it is the right thing to do. tonio. This collection is not intended to be comprehensive, but sim-
ply to provide you with an example of what we are doing in trauma,
Since the MHI has been established, we have made significant caregiving and other disciplines.
progress in all our mission areas. We have increased Department of
Defense-funded research by an estimated $4 million, hosted grant We are proud to be a part of the Military Health Institute and
workshops to educate investigators on the ins and outs of grant writ- even prouder of the excellent work done by UT Health’s educators
ing for the DoD, and sponsored several pilot research projects. We and researchers to fulfill our mission. We owe nothing less than our
also established a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Military Health and best effort to support our nation’s military service members, veterans
have invited distinguished lecturers on a variety of military health and their families. We hope you enjoy reading and following our
topics. Equally importantly, we have advocated for military health progress. For up to date news on MHI and our collaborative part-
at the state and national levels through numerous venues including ners please visit us at uthscsa.edu/military.
the University of Texas National Security Advisory Group and the
Association of Military Surgeons of the US. (AMSUS) . Dr. Byron C. Hepburn, Maj. Gen. USAF Ret., is associate
vice president and the inaugural director of the Military
Perhaps two of the more significant MHI accomplishments in- Health Institute at the University of Texas Health Science
clude leading the university’s effort to join the Army's Medical Tech- Center at San Antonio.
nology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC), which facilitates university,
federal government, and industry partnering to expedite military Ronald Rodriguez, MD, Ph.D., is the interim Dean of the
medical product development. The second is leading the establish- School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science
ment of the Trauma Research Consortium of San Antonio. Much Center at San Antonio.
of our work impacts not only military health but civilian medical
research as well.
12 San Antonio Medicine • August 2017
