Message from the Chief, Thomas F. Patterson, M.D.

Welcome to the Division of Infectious Diseases at UT Health San Antonio. Since my becoming the Division Chief in September 2008, I am more enthusiastic than ever about the present and future of our division. In meeting our missions of teaching, research, and clinical service, we are training some of the finest Infectious Diseases physicians in the world; our location in south Texas provides a vast array of infectious diseases cases to include patients with coccidioidomycosis, histoplasmosis, murine typhus, atypical mycobacterium, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, advanced HIV with opportunistic infections, and immunosuppression from bone marrow or solid organ transplant with opportunistic infections.

We oversee an active travel medicine clinic and patients returning with malaria, dengue and other tropical diseases. We have excellent Microbiology laboratories including the fungus testing laboratory, a premier worldwide reference center. Our fellows rotate to the Texas Center for Infectious Diseases in which they see patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and leprosy. In addition, we provide care for patients with HIV through our University Hospital and Veterans Affairs hospital systems. Antibiotic stewardship, infection control, and patient safety programs are led by an internationally recognized team.

Our research mission covers many important areas within infectious diseases, including nationally and world-renowned research in antifungal therapies. We also focus on HIV research with national recognition in the areas of genetics and epigenetics of HIV progression and response to therapy; our clinical HIV research program focuses on new therapies for HIV and current issues in metabolic disorders associated with HIV, including obesity and diabetes.

Our clinical research in multidrug-resistant bacteria, Clostridium difficile, and MRSA infections focuses on epidemiology, infection control, antimicrobial stewardship, and treatment. With the Clinical and Transitional Science Award (CTSA), the University and our division are poised for many new collaborative research projects.

Please take a few more minutes to review our pages on this website detailing our programs and initiatives. Whether you are a prospective student, patient, faculty member, or donor, I am sure you will agree with me that we are in an exciting and productive era for the Division of Infectious Diseases at UT Health San Antonio.

Thomas F. Patterson, M.D.
Division Chief