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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio will benefit from $24.7 million over this upcoming biennium ― $12.35 million each year for the next two years ― from the 80th legislature.

This is a marked improvement over the past two legislative sessions, said Steve Lynch, M.B.A., C.P.A., executive vice president for business affairs and chief financial officer. It also is the best funding the Health Science Center has received during Dr. Francisco G. Cigarroa’s seven-year tenure as the Health Science Center’s president.

“We are pleased to have received funding for four of our top five initiatives in this legislative session. This will help us move forward with many of our programs to educate future health professionals, provide health services to South Texans and conduct cutting-edge research,” Dr. Cigarroa said.

“We also are very grateful to Sens. Judith Zaffirini and Leticia Van De Putte, and Reps. Ruth Jones McClendon and Jose Menendez, all key members of the finance, appropriations and education committees, as well as local leaders Joe Krier and A.J. Rodriguez, for supporting all of our initiatives,” Dr. Cigarroa said. “In fact, all of our senators and representatives from San Antonio and throughout South Texas played a major role in helping to bring important funding to the Health Science Center so that we can carry out our mission of improving health care and medical education in San Antonio and South Texas.” The South Texas border region legislative contingent includes, among others, Sens. Eddie Lucio Jr. and Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, and Reps. Eddie Lucio III, Aaron Pena and Ryan Guillen, who were members of the finance, appropriations and education committees.

Although funding for the San Antonio Life Sciences Institute, a joint research program between the Health Science Center and The University of Texas at San Antonio, was approved during the session, it was later vetoed. Ongoing efforts with legislative leadership, however, will continue with the goal of getting the project funded. “Of course, we are always hopeful each legislative session that we will receive all that we ask for, but given the state’s resources and its huge demands on these resources, that is not always possible,” Dr. Cigarroa said.

“As one of the major economic catalysts for San Antonio and South Texas, the Health Science Center continues to improve the quality, accessibility and affordability of professional health education. The Greater San Antonio Chamber strongly supported the Health Science Center’s funding priorities during the 80th session. We did so because of its outstanding educational efforts and science research which addresses the quality of life and healthcare workforce needs of Texas,” said Krier, president and chief executive officer of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.

Rodriguez, chairman and chief executive officer of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce added, “The Health Science Center’s legislative priorities were crucial components of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s 80th Session Legislative Agenda. The Hispanic Chamber places a strong value on higher education and the positive impact the Health Science Center has on our region’s economic growth. State resources allocated to the Health Science Center will help ensure that it will continue to provide outstanding professional health care education and nationally acclaimed biomedical research.”

Funded programs
Among the major initiatives funded for the 2007-2008 biennium were:

• $9.9 million ($4.95 million per year for two years) in debt service for the $60 million revenue bond for construction of the South Texas Research Facility
  
• $5 million (2.5 million per year) for the Regional Academic Health Center in the Lower Rio Grande Valley
  
• $3 million (1.5 million per year) for the Laredo Campus Extension
  
• $6.8 million (3.4 million per year) of formula funding, of which $2.25 million each of the two years will be used to support graduate medical education.

South Texas Research Facility ― $9.9 million in debt service
The $9.9 million in debt service bonds over two years will help fund construction of the South Texas Research Facility, a 229,000-square-foot facility being built on Floyd Curl Drive. The facility will act as a gateway to the Greehey Academic and Research Campus and will be connected to the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute. Primarily wet lab space, the new building, expected to be completed in 2010, will provide state-of-the-art facilities for research in such fields as aging, cancer, metabolic biology and neuroscience regenerative medicine. In addition to housing the Institute for Integration of Medicine and Science, the building will allow the Health Science Center to broaden its biomedical, psychosocial and health services research, as well as to establish a clinical and translational research institute. It will also help spur economic development through commercial and biotech partnerships. The total projected construction costs of $150 million will be raised from tuition revenue bonds, permanent university funds and philanthropic gifts.

Regional Academic Health Center ― $5 million
The $5 million in biennial funding, $2.5 million per year, for the Regional Academic Health Center will be used to continue developing research and medical education programs in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. “Over the biennium, we plan to add approximately 15 faculty researchers and research support personnel in our basic and clinical research programs, especially in the areas of chronic and infectious diseases,” explained Regional Dean Leonel Vela, M.D., M.P.H. “We also plan to continue to expand our medical education programs by offering more options for in-depth study in various medical specialties and by recruiting more part-time and volunteer faculty to teach our students.”

Laredo Campus Extension ― $3 million
The $1.5 million in funds provided for each of the two years for the Laredo Campus Extension will be used to enhance health professional education and to further develop three major new programs: oral health residencies, the physician assistant program and a dietetics/nutrition program being developed jointly with Texas A&M International University.

Formula funding ― $6.8 million
The majority of the additional funds ― $4.5 million over the biennium, or $2.25 million per year ― will be used to support graduate medical education programs. The additional $2.3 million for the biennium, or $1.15 million per year, will support faculty and staff compensation.