Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, wrote this article in January 2002 for the Bexar County Medical Society.
The
Health Science Center began as a dream, planted in a remote pasture
on the far northwest side of town. Only about half a million people
lived in the city back then, but local visionaries, leaders in the
medical and business communities, and a group of lawmakers thought
it was the perfect place to cultivate a new generation of physicians
– and, later, dentists, nurses and other health care professionals.
They were right.Today, the Health Science Center is a vital part of San Antonio’s
$8 billion biotechnology industry, an industry that grew more than
7.5 percent last year and provides 15 percent of the jobs in San Antonio.
Our own university educates 200 new physicians each year, provides
a vast amount of continuing medical education, treats over a million
patients each year, and offers more than $80 million in uncompensated
care to the medically indigent. The numbers are astounding. But after
all, we became doctors to help, heal, and in the case of our fine
faculty, to educate.
That concept of helping and healing can easily be lost today, as
red tape and many layers of bureaucracy may suppress the pure joy
of healing. As I enter my second year at the helm of a premier health
professions institution, I want to make sure doctors aren’t losing
focus of the task at hand: the higher calling of medicine. To that
end, I have put myself on call every other weekend and continue to
do transplant surgery frequently. It puts me in constant touch with
the front line of medicine and medical education, and it never fails
to restore the joy of medicine to me, after long days of important,
but highly administrative, details.
Another important reminder how vital our mission is occurs when I
interact with our fine students. I like to drop in to see what really
happens with faculty, staff and students on a typical day. On one
of these occasions, I observed a new group of medical students, working
with their very first patients. I watched as they anxiously tried
to ask the right questions, find the right trouble spots and put into
practice what they had learned. These students were determined to
provide the best care, perform the best service, for the simple, fundamental
joy of sending a patient home a bit healthier, and a bit happier.
I truly believe we, as health care professionals, are servants of
our community. I embraced this belief as a child, learning from my
father and grandfather, both outstanding physicians. Even as a young
boy, my greatest joy and happiest memories are of helping my father
pack the black bag, and make patient rounds.
I watched as my family set an example of service: Service to the
community, service to those who may not have financial resources and
service to those who had limited access to education and health care.
I spent over a decade preparing to provide this type of service to
the people of South Texas.
As much as I loved surgery, I knew that when I had the opportunity
to become president, I could be of greater service to our medical
community, to San Antonio, and the South Texas region I love.
I realized the Health Science Center had made impressive strides
over the past three decades, and I now have the rare and incredible
opportunity to link our pride in the past to our faith in the future.
That future begins with creating the next generation of physicians.
One of my greatest priorities as president is to increase the number
of doctors serving the South Texas region. We can do this by increasing
the number of scholarships available to the South Texas students who
wish to work in this area. I have a “no closed doors” policy
here; no gifted student should be denied the chance of an education
because of a lack of financial resources.
The education these students receive must be the finest available
anywhere in the nation, not only for physicians, but for students
at all our schools, including our top-ranked dental and nursing schools.
We will now join the ranks of the country’s elite medical and
graduate science schools by expanding our M.D./Ph.D. program –
another one of my priorities. This program will create physician-scientists
who take the latest treatment and technology straight from the bench
to the bedside.
We have the $200 million endowment for cancer research in Texas.
It is the largest single cancer endowment in the United States. The
fund will establish the Children’s Cancer Research Center, now
under construction. Many of you already know I am a cancer survivor,
and I will stop at nothing to enhance our already-strong cancer programs.
We have just completed funding for our new Sam and Ann Barshop Center
for Longevity and Aging Studies. We’re confident this center
will be recognized as the foremost aging research institute in the
world.
I will also continue to promote our city as a nationally renowned
center for transplantation surgery. The Health Science Center is already
home to some of the most prominent transplant surgeons in the country
and ours is one of the most active programs in the nation.
The Health Science Center won’t celebrate these triumphs alone
– because they aren’t ours alone. We are all partners in
the health care arena, all players on the same field, working for
a common good. Our university educates the health care professionals
that will eventually staff your offices; you often refer the sickest
patients to our specialists for the latest therapies and clinical
trials. Our researchers collaborate on projects with a number of centers,
including those run by the United States military.
Our combined efforts make San Antonio a better place to live. Not
only does our profession boost the health of our society, we raise
the caliber of our community by attracting the best and brightest
minds, innovators and creators of new knowledge. Our goal, in fact,
is to one day be the home of one or more Nobel Laureates. I am confident
this will happen.
Together, we set an enviable standard in creating one of the country’s
premier biotechnology centers for our city. And we will continue to
strengthen this success by doing what we do best: keeping our focus
clearly on the higher calling of medicine.
I am privileged to serve this Health Science Center, this community, and my fellow physicians.