Lower than a 12 months for the reason that College of Texas at San Antonio and UT Well being San Antonio grew to become one establishment — UT San Antonio — the college ranked among the many prime 2.3% of U.S. establishments to obtain Nationwide Institutes of Well being funding.
Regardless of receiving almost $6 million much less in NIH funding in 2025 than UTSA and UT Well being acquired in 2024 individually, UT San Antonio managed to maneuver up within the nationwide rankings.
The general NIH funding awarded to UT San Antonio in 2025 totaled $147,098,904.
“UT San Antonio’s improved rating in 2025 displays the continued power and rising recognition of its analysis enterprise,” stated Jennifer Sharpe Potter, UT San Antonio’s senior government vice chairman for analysis and innovation. “This consists of extremely specialised and mission-driven work in fields which are critically vital to the well being wants of our area, Texas and the nation”
On Sept. 1, 2025, when the merger grew to become official, UT San Antonio grew to become the third largest public analysis college in Texas.
The long-awaited merger promised to better-position the college as a stronger candidate for analysis {dollars}, however below the Trump Administration the provision of federal analysis grants and funds modified shortly, and hundreds of {dollars} in analysis funds have been frozen or terminated.
The NIH’s 2025 funding resolution positioned the college at No. 64 among the many 2,702 establishments ranked by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Analysis in its first look as a merged establishment.
When UTSA and UT Well being have been ranked independently final 12 months, UT Well being led the best way, rating No. 69 nationally with $139,286,059 in NIH funding, whereas UTSA ranked No. 275 with $13,579,839.
The Blue Ridge Institute is an unbiased nonprofit group that makes use of NIH funding for its annual rankings.
Dr. Francisco Cigarroa, UT San Antonio’s senior government vice chairman for well being affairs and well being system, referred to as the rating a landmark second for the newly merged establishment and an indication of its school’s power.
In line with the institute, final 12 months the NIH reported a rise in complete greenback disbursements to U.S. medical colleges, however these funds went to fewer establishments and fewer principal investigators, or PIs, who’re the people named within the awards. When in comparison with 2024, the entire variety of awards to medical colleges declined by 7.5% and these went to 4.2% fewer PIs.
“Colleges of Public Well being fared worse, with complete 2025 NIH help declining 4.8% and the variety of funded PIs down by 5.8% compared to 2024,” the Blue Ridge web site states.
The mixed complete NIH funding acquired by the then-independent establishments was $152,865,898.
This 12 months the NIH awarded almost $1 million much less to the Teresa Lozano Lengthy Faculty of Medication, although it nonetheless netted greater than $124 million. The Kate Marmion Faculty of Public Well being additionally noticed about $500,000 much less in NIH funding, however netted $6,726,764. The 2 colleges have been beforehand ranked as a part of UT Well being San Antonio.
The Faculty of Dentistry, which positioned among the many prime 10 dental colleges within the nation with $9,770,084 in 2025, noticed a rise of greater than $3 million in NIH funding. Public Well being analysis — outdoors the Faculty of Public Well being — was additionally awarded about $1 million extra in 2025.
“The improved nationwide rating indicators that UT San Antonio is strengthening its place amongst main analysis establishments, even inside a extremely aggressive and evolving federal funding surroundings,” Potter stated.
The San Antonio Report interviewed Potter about navigating a merger, encouraging analysis and innovation, and the brand new doorways that this merger would possibly open.
Potter joined UT Well being San Antonio in 2008 from Harvard Medical Faculty and McLean Hospital. In the present day she is tasked with overseeing the analysis funding for the establishment, which for not less than for this primary 12 months has two unbiased Carnegie R1 analysis classifications, the very best designation awarded to establishments that meet $50 million in complete analysis spending and award 70 analysis doctorates yearly.
Her solutions have been edited for readability and size.
Please deliver us updated on how the establishments have navigated this merger and what this transformation means when it comes to analysis?
Main as much as Sept. 1, 2025, one of many issues I typically stated throughout the campuses was that it was about balancing stability with alternative. And the explanation why we have been saying that was as a result of we have been on this unusual state of affairs, sort of unprecedented, {that a} college merged and is a double Carnegie R1.
And so a very powerful factor was that we didn’t wish to do something that may impede that tempo, we needed to have the ability to keep the sturdy analysis applications of each universities. And as you understand, this merger occurred in a really advanced 12 months from a federal funding perspective, which added to the complexity of the merger. And so it seems we really navigated by the modifications within the federal funding panorama fairly properly, higher than many different universities for lots of various causes, however that stability piece was actually vital.
Having stated that, a merger isn’t something if it’s not a possibility. And in order that was this stability about what alternatives we’re going to have collectively. We have been going to create intentional alternatives to display to our school what we may do collectively.
Are you able to give some examples of the alternatives which have opened for the reason that merger came about?
An important instance of that’s our well being analysis problem. Throughout the first six months, we funded $600,000 in new pilot tasks seed funding to encourage our scientists to collaborate. It’s one factor to say, “We’ve bought an engineering faculty right here and a medical faculty on one other campus, get collectively and do one thing.” You must form of energize that and do intentional actions, and the best way that we did that was that we convened people collectively. We had about 300 folks are available in individual directly and so they have been speaking about what they have been doing, networking and creating alternatives.
The theme was “the place technique meets want,” and it was round this concept that we now have new strategies, in Synthetic Intelligence and discovery on the legacy UT San Antonio, and we now have Alzheimer’s, the science of getting older, psychological well being challenges, and all of those illnesses and well being matters at UT Well being. So what can we do collectively?
Out of that preliminary convening we had about 72 analysis functions and we funded about 15 of them. In order that $600,000 was deliberately invested out of our workplace of analysis and innovation for that.
Are there any areas of analysis that had gone untapped that are actually creating because of the merger?
Sure, a number of, and they’re far-ranging. One other piece of that is recognizing that whereas we’re distinctive in tech entry, as a result of we’re the third largest public analysis college in Texas and the most important with a complete well being science middle, we play with many individuals throughout america, universities that each one of us know. And what differentiates us from different massive flagship universities in Texas is the truth that we now have such a sturdy well being mission.
So, one instance of the varieties of functions we bought was school from the School of Liberal and Nice Arts making use of in partnership with school from the division of drugs.
That’s not a typical partnership. However once you see an utility in regards to the therapeutic worth of the humanities on illnesses like Alzheimer’s, impacting psychological well being, that could be a nice instance of why we want folks to see themselves as specialists of their subject of selection, but in addition ask questions that relate to the human situation and well being.
Others which are extra typical are: the school of engineering and the college of drugs have a joint biomedical engineering program, in order that college students come by, they will get their doctorate and work on each campuses.
What we additionally needed to listen to is what are the tasks wherein engineers may assist us deal with questions, perhaps assist us deal with musculoskeletal questions to enhance orthopedic well being. How can scientists rooted in AI and AI strategies companion with medical chemists to extend and speed up drug discovery?
However this doesn’t happen in a vacuum, this occurs by making the most of the distinctive partnerships that we already had earlier than the merger. What we bought now is a bit more accelerated course of and an incentive to companion collectively.
So the place is UT San Antonio now on this strategy of coming collectively as one main analysis establishment?
One of the vital vital issues to recollect is that for our scientists, innovators, engineers, anybody on this discovery mission, that is very exhausting work. I consider these typically as 24/7 jobs since you are all the time counting on your self.
So it’s our accountability as a corporation to work as shortly as potential to take away limitations. So for us to have the ability to appeal to and keep the perfect expertise in San Antonio, the people who find themselves going to develop our area, contribute to our financial development, and the well being of our inhabitants, we now have to honor the significance of giving a really excessive stage of service.
So this primary 12 months it’s been about us ensuring that the people who find themselves within the entrance traces of innovation have the instruments and sources they should make their lives easier and in order that they will do this work.
We additionally made an intentional resolution that if we have been going to completely capitalize on the chance earlier than us and actually deliver to San Antonio and South Texas the perfect college we might be for our neighborhood. We wanted to unify our mission. And so the management staff built-in and we’re beginning to deliver the programs on-line.
The opposite piece is tradition. So bringing collectively and defining what our innovation surroundings is, what our scientists consider, what our students and within the arts care about, and the way can create a standard mission that aligns with our general imaginative and prescient.
How do these first rankings as one establishment impression that mission and that imaginative and prescient?
We are going to all the time be targeted on ensuring that our reputational accomplishments are acknowledged. We now have to have a reputational elevate. We wish to guarantee that entry continues. However the tradition piece can be recognizing that folks drive that, and that’s our college students, our school, our employees on the college.
So we drive and monitor how we’re performing nationally in order that we are able to deliver the perfect product to the area.
It’s vital for us to have a sustainable analysis enterprise and a tradition of grantsmanship that we’re trying to have the ability to develop.
The federal authorities continues to be one of many largest sponsors of analysis and discovery in america. So it’s vital for us to be as formidable as we might be associated to that.
There’s a whole lot of totally different ways in which universities can develop and develop whereas additionally sustaining entry. One of many issues that we’ve made an intentional resolution round is that we’re going to proceed to prioritize what issues to our area. That we’re deeply engaged in listening to what the neighborhood thinks is vital.
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