The Health Science Center thanks Dr. Antonio Furino for his many years of service in the area of health workforce studies.
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Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and Ricardo Romo, Ph.D., president of The University of Texas at San Antonio, announced Aug. 3 that the two institutions will work together to study health workforce supply and demand in Texas.

The cooperative research strategy will enable the Health Science Center and UTSA to better address critical needs in the area of health workforce preparedness, and to more efficiently assess the implications of a growing, aging and diversifying population on health care requirements statewide and across the U.S.

Specifically, the agreement calls for evolving the Health Science Center’s Regional Center for Health Workforce Studies at the Center for Health Economics and Policy into a collaborative organization administratively located in the Health Science Center’s recently established department of epidemiology and biostatistics. The new organization is to be jointly governed by the department of epidemiology and biostatistics and UTSA’s Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research.

“The combined capabilities of the Health Science Center and UTSA in this field are substantial,” Dr. Cigarroa said. “Pooling our resources to study population size, distribution and characteristics, along with factors such as the location and accessibility of the health workforce and health care facilities, permits us to more effectively help our state and nation to address population-related health service demands. This is of vital importance to San Antonio and the South Texas Border Region, which the Health Science Center is charged to serve in its charter.”

Steve Murdock, Ph.D., state demographer, UTSA Lutcher Brown Distinguished Chair in Demography and director of the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research, accepted a joint faculty appointment at the Health Science Center and will head the research facility.

“This partnership is an excellent example of how UTSA and the Health Science Center can collaborate to address challenges affecting the people of Texas,” Dr. Romo said. “We look forward to providing the demographic expertise of Steve Murdock’s group to help the Health Science Center determine where critical health care needs exist in the state, and how it can help fill that void.”

Epidemiological research and biostatistical techniques allow estimates of the clinical outcomes of possible interventions. The analytical capabilities of the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research in population-related issues, those of the Regional Center for Health Workforce Studies in health workforce areas, and the expertise of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics in health outcomes are complementary and synergistic, Dr. Cigarroa said.

William L. Henrich, M.D., M.AC.P., dean of the School of Medicine at the Health Science Center and vice president for medical affairs, stated: “This teaming agreement enables us to work collaboratively with our sister institution to address the health workforce needs of the citizens of Texas. By combining the resources and capabilities of our two organizations, we have an opportunity to develop a paradigm that will serve as a model for other states and regions.”

The Regional Center for Health Workforce Studies is one of only six in the nation, and was created under the sponsorship of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration to inform national and regional health workforce policy. It has become a major source for data and analyses of health workforce issues for Texas, the four states surrounding Texas, and the U.S. and Mexico Border Regions from Brownsville to San Diego.

The center’s extensive databases and scope of work can be examined at its Web site, . Its former director, Antonio Furino, Ph.D., has just retired after years of dedicated service and substantial success in developing the capabilities of the center.

“I am excited and honored by the opportunity to serve at the Health Science Center as the director of the Regional Center for Health Workforce Studies at the Center for Health Economics Policy, as well as a faculty member in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics,” Dr. Murdock said. “The combination of the capabilities of these research facilities with those in the Institute of Demographic and Socioeconomic Research at UTSA allows us to more effectively address those pressing policy issues in the areas of health workforce planning and preparedness that are of critical importance to the state of Texas and the nation.”

Currently, the Regional Center for Health Workforce Studies is completing two national studies – a health workforce profile of the U.S.-Mexico Border Regions, and the first national assessment of the size and quality of the community health worker workforce involving a survey of employers in each state of the country. The center also is preparing to launch its fourth biennial survey of job satisfaction and career plans of Texas registered nurses. Future work will continue the basic research and information mission of the center with the greater vigor and scope possible with the teaming agreement.

Dr. Murdock’s population study programs have provided analyses of demographic patterns across Texas for more than 25 years. Their products include annual county-level population estimates and biennial projections of the populations of counties and the state by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. These estimates and projections by the Texas State Data Center headed by Dr. Murdock are used by the state for budgetary, facility and personnel planning.

In addition, these estimates and projections have been combined with other socioeconomic data to examine future demands for such state services as health, education, human services, criminal justice services, housing and business services, with such evaluations being published in the well-known “Texas Challenge” series of publications. Some of these products can be seen on the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research Web site, txsdc.utsa.edu.

The department of epidemiology and biostatistics was established this summer with epidemiologist Brad H. Pollock, Ph.D., as professor and chair. The mission of the department is to develop and enhance population-based, clinical and translational research in clinical and community settings, and to make available epidemiologic, biostatistical and medical informatics resources to students, faculty and the public for the prevention of disease, for the delivery of quality health care and for informed health policy decisions. The department manages large regional and national databases on disease incidence and clinical outcomes, and is engaged in interdisciplinary research activities at the local and national levels. See deb.uthscsa.edu.

Dr. Pollock welcomed the arrival of the Regional Center for Health Workforce Studies. “We are delighted to bring our groups together to work toward improving the health of the South Texas population,” he said. “The incorporation of the Regional Center for Health Workforce Studies at the Center for Health Economics Policy into our department, and the teaming with the UTSA Institute and Texas State Data Center, brings together a team of scientists whose dialogue and research expertise can effectively address the specific health needs and distribution of health resources in South Texas.”

Contact: Will Sansom
Phone: (210) 567-2579
E-mail: Sansom@uthscsa.edu