Driving Discovery
Fighting dementia and Alzheimer’s. Pioneering cancer treatment. Advancing artificial intelligence in medicine and cybersecurity, among other critical industries. As one powerhouse university, we’re performing more groundbreaking research to make a bigger difference for more people.
Largest research university in Texas
Annual research portfolio
Active clinical trials in Texas
Bigger. Better.More collaborative.
By combining a research-intensive university with a world-class academic health center, we’re now the third largest research university in Texas — and we’re facilitating even more research opportunities and cross-disciplinary collaboration. We have almost half a billion dollars in our annual research portfolio, and we are investing in critical, high-impact areas like aging and brain health, applied cancer research and treatment and AI. And with over 520 active clinical trials in Texas, we’re advancing new solutions and cures for people in Texas and beyond.
Advancing brain health
Jenny Hsieh, PhD, leads and champions neuroscience research as the Semmes Foundation Distinguished Chair in Cell Biology. Also the director of the Brain Health Consortium, Hsieh brings together scientists across disciplines to shape the future of the field. At the Hsieh Lab, she and her team use stem cells, 3D brain organoids and disease modeling to study the roots of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and epilepsy. Their research is accelerating precision medicine and treatment for brain disorders and creating new hope for patients.
Leading cancer research
Patrick Sung, DPhil, leads transformative cancer research as director of the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute and associate dean for research in the Long School of Medicine. A world-renowned expert in BRCA-related cancer biology, he and his team investigate DNA repair pathways to better understand how mutations in genes like BRCA1 and BRCA2 lead to breast cancer. Sung's research has earned international recognition, including the 2024 Basser Global Prize, and made an incredible impact, benefiting patients and their families around the world.
Delivering real-world results
As the director of UT San Antonio’s Vision and AI Lab and associate professor in the College of AI, Cyber and Computing, Amanda Fernandez, PhD, is deeply committed to research. She designed a special topics course to help students develop an inquiry-driven approach to their research that, like hers, delivers real-world results.
Her own research ranges from using AI deep learning in nuclear materials characterization to using generative neural networks for next-gen medical imaging. Her work exemplifies our culture of innovation and advancing discovery—and is shaping the minds that will do so next.
Discovery of groundbreaking research
Sudha Seshadri, MD, is a leading expert in Alzheimer’s and dementia. As the founding director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases, she’s working to discover what causes memory loss and how to prevent it. Her team studies how genetics and blood vessel health affect the brain, with the goal of identifying the disease earlier and improving treatment. Through groundbreaking research, community partnerships and clinical trials, Seshadri investigates how we can protect our minds, preserve our memories and push science forward.
Join us in making scientific impacts
Innovation starts with innovative minds. See how UT San Antonio can help you achieve your research ambitions.
My ambition is for people to be wowed when one of our researchers walks into the room.
My ambition is for UT San Antonio to be known as the place where ideas move to impact faster than anywhere else.
My ambition is for UT San Antonio to be a place where innovation is rewarded, risk-taking is supported and failure is seen as part of the path toward discovery.
My ambition is for every faculty member, healthcare leader and researcher here to feel that this is where you can create your legacy, not fit into someone else's.
As a proud alumnus of a four-generation Roadrunner family, I am celebrating how this merger has made UT San Antonio the third-largest public research university in Texas, and how it provides a new brand identity for our city.
UT San Antonio now rivals a Fortune 500 company in size, scope and influence; yet its mission is far greater. It exists to educate, discover, provide advanced patient care and serve the public good.
Keep exploring
Learn more about how our university is evolving—and the ways in which it’s making a difference in San Antonio and beyond.
