This program is supported by Texas Mutual Workers Compensation Insurance.

Welcome to Business of business, San Antonio.

I'm Henry Cisneros.

I want to start this show with a staggering number, $44 billion.

That's how much money San Antonio's medical research and biosciences industries bring into the local economy.

This sector also accounts for nearly one fifth of all local jobs.

Good paying jobs, about 180,000.

And it's an industry that continues to grow.

Texas BioMed has just received a $37 million NIH grant to support its research.

I want to welcome to the show two leaders of this sector, Doctor Francisco Cigarroa, renowned transplant surgeon and the senior executive vice president for health affairs and the health system at UT San Antonio.

In this role, he oversees the strategic leadership and stewardship for UT San Antonio Health Science Center, including its academic, research and clinical missions, as well as the delivery of patient care through the clinical enterprise.

And Doctor Larry Schlesinger, a nationally recognized physician scientist in infectious diseases and the president and CEO of Texas BioMed.

In this role, he leads a transformational effort focused on scientific growth, cultural change, a new campus master plan, and expanded research and education programs.

And that's supported by more than $220 million in current investments.

Gentlemen, I've known you both for a long time.

And so for this morning's relaxed conversation.

I hope it's okay with you, Francisco, Larry and Henry.

So let's proceed.

Francisco, you now have this massive responsibility for basically all health care, clinical delivery and research in our region.

The UDT system has grown here tremendously.

How do you see research in the big picture.

And the big picture?

Research is fundamental to what Larry and I and, you know, the health care biomedical science ecosystem in San Antonio is.

And the reason why I say that is that really the great advances in America and in the world and largely from America, has come from innovation.

And that innovation comes from, in large part, individuals with a great amount of curiosity, which actually leads to novel therapeutics, new instrumentation that's really sophisticated through engineering efforts to conquer cancer.

And now, as we know, here in San Antonio, a tremendous effort in solving the issues of Alzheimer's.

So these efforts that Larry and I and other leaders in this ecosystem in San Antonio actually translates to improving the quality of life.

And that is the connection.

So if we can develop new novel therapeutics that eliminate certain cancers, our families benefit.

If we can solve the issues of neurodegenerative diseases, which is really one of the most feared diseases now in the world, we improve the quality of life.

If these discoveries go to market and create jobs, we improve the workforce of this community in this region, which, as you stated, are really tremendous, you know, high paying jobs, which then actually results in that $44 billion impact, you know, to the communities.

So it ripples throughout every life in San Antonio in our region.

So structurally at UT San Antonio, paint the picture of where research is in the organization.

So research is one of the pillars of the mission of UT San Antonio.

And just to put perspective into this, the UT San Antonio ecosystem, not counting what Larry does, that's additive you it brings in a half $1 billion of research into this economy annually, half a billion.

If you take a look at the merger, which has really the capacity to make a top 20 public research university, that is going to really improve the pipeline of the workforce in our community.

We have the opportunity to accelerate discovery through artificial intelligence.

Drugs to market are going to become faster.

So the synergies between the academic and our health campus is going to benefit every life of every citizen in our community and every Texan.

And beyond that.

Now within the the medical school, for example, is every professor involved in research?

Is that more or less a part of the job?

Actually, it not every faculty member is involved with the research.

We have a huge health care enterprise, of which you need faculty members who are largely devoted to the clinical practice.

The clinical practice is an engine of actually reinvestment its margins into the research into Bryce.

And so if you take a look at the great research centers in America, whether it would be Harvard, whether it be Hopkins, whether it be Duke, a lot of the investments made into the research enterprise are coming out of the clinical margin.

And, you know, this actually is really important right now as there are headwinds and, you know, federal agencies that have been traditionally supporting research through kind of the event of our Bush era.

And and so we need to be creative.

You know, whenever there's headwinds, that's an opportunity for innovation.

And so we need to diversify the portfolio to invest in research.

Think about some specific examples of where research in San Antonio has resulted in some product or some therapeutic, because I think our audience would love to hear that.

But, Larry, let's talk a little bit about what you're doing at Texas BioMed.

You came from Ohio State and in years ago, inherent nine.

I'm in my ninth year here.

Yeah.

Well and you came like a ball of fire.

You came full of ideas for for the institution.

And you've done an immense job of adding research, adding personnel of rebuilding the physical plant.

It's not the same place it was nine years ago.

Your whole organization is about research.

Talk about the model, the effect you think it's having in San Antonio.

Yeah.

No.

I'm happy to do so.

And by the way, I'm.

Excited.

To be here, Henry.

And I'm excited to be here with my colleague Francisco.

The relationship with the medical enterprise, with UT, with Doctor Amy has been outstanding since I've been here.

And that's actually, I think, quite important for the region.

You know, before I get into Texas BioMed and what we've done there, let me just amplify a couple of comments in Francisco made, you know, it's been estimated that every dollar invested in biomedical research results in a return of $2.50.

Let's scale that up.

But 250 times return on every dollar invested.

That means a lot in terms of the economy of a city and a nation.

I mean, in the 20th century, why do we become the envy of the world is because of an of our Bush and the investment in biomedical research?

How does that how do mechanically how does that work?

Invested a dollar generate.

250 right.

So it's not just the research but it's what comes from the research.

So as a result of biomedical research investments, there's job creation.

There are spin out companies.

There is growth in high paying jobs to the economy of the city, new technology.

Ultimately it creates critical mass.

And I'm excited about the growth in the city and research, because when you have critical mass, as a result of that investment, more and more people come into the city and that includes manufacturing.

So there's a downstream benefit.

There's one additional downstream benefit, which is it actually enhances the caliber of education stem K through 12 undergraduate, etc.

by having more and more of this research enterprise centered in San Antonio.

So give an example of research underway at Texas BioMed today.

Yeah.

Thank you for the comments you made about changing the institute.

One of the most important things that has helped Texas by May really grow is diversifying our revenue sources, realizing that infectious diseases has been estimated by two economists to be the number one killer of humans by 2050.

This is a area of concern, and, you know, there are some outbreaks going on right now.

And by diversifying our revenue now, we have a lot more customers coming to the table.

Please can understand infectious diseases.

Obviously Covid was an infectious disease.

Today we're hearing about Ebola in Africa.

That's an infectious disease.

That is what are the threats on the horizon?

What are the kinds of things.

You know, it's been estimated that there are about 15 undiscovered viruses going over the globe every year.

And we're a global society.

So these threats are increasing.

The pace of outbreaks has been increasing since the 1980s.

So that's as people migrate from the countryside into cities.

That's as we take land that previously belonged to wild nature.

And some of the viruses that have been embedded, even in the soil, find their way into places where human beings now are migrating.

Is that that?

Yeah.

I mean, what you're describing is this concept of one health, which is really the interplay between the environment, animals and humans, because some of that is the spillover.

As we grow the population of over 8 billion people on the planet, there are more of those interfaces.

And as we enable people to be in greater contact, you can get on an airplane in Africa and fly through South America and be in Dallas in 12 hours or something.

We forget SARS-CoV one many years ago.

That came very quickly from Asia, Europe to Canada to the US.

Beautiful example of what you're talking about.

This concept of one health is very active by med right now.

You asked about some of the research and we just signed a very exciting contract in relationship with a company in the UK to advance new approaches to solving the screw worm problem, which is affecting ranchers in in Texas right now.

And this is a worm has devastated animal population in the past and can infect humans.

So when these worms get into wounds, they can become super infected and then people die of infection.

So that's another example.

Some of the research going on.

Economic value of the research is one stop damaging things from happening, but also get ahead of problems with new therapies and new devices and such.

I want to go to Francisco on some suggestions of things that have come from the labs and and evolved into either products.

But let me just say a few years ago and by the way, you are now the chair of BioMed SA, which is San Antonio's alliance to to boost the biosciences generally.

Congratulations on that and thank you for doing that job.

But when we looked at where are the places where San Antonio excels nationally in either hospitals or medical schools or generally speaking, research the one area where San Antonio pushes top ten level was in research because of the work that's being done at your two locations, and biomedicine has been a long time claim, if you will, to research excellence.

An organization.

You found it over 20 years ago.

BioMed say not not Texas.

But it takes us by me.

That was somebody else.

Tom Slick, during his time, select.

Geniuses that San Antonio produced, he was the Ellen Musk of his time.

Oh, yeah, he had an airline.

He had well, Wells.

Architectural Design.

Created a research institute.

Southwest research chapter include.

The Southwest Research Institute.

Yeah.

Tom slick actually founded five research institutes, three of which are standing today.

Incredible change in the fabric of the city and region.

Give us some specifics of the way research folks can understand.

Love to give you some specifics from little past, but also present.

So the top ten patent in the medical world has been the PalmOS stent.

Yes, right.

Lutea Palmas was one of our interventional radiology who created.

It is in San Antonio.

So the Palmer stent is like a mini slinky.

Radiologists can actually insert into the arteries of the heart called coronary arteries.

And they.

Are.

Or to dilate that got it stenosis that narrowing that causes a heart attack.

And so that one Palma stent has saved millions of people.

And he developed that in your labs.

He developed that in labs in a variety of places, but predominantly in the labs within the House Science Center San Antonio, the Maze Cancer Center.

Before you leave, Palma Stent, now, the process of monetizing research, people do make a device like that.

Then they team up with some company and license it, and it grows into a product that is marketed worldwide.

That's what happened with the net.

Correct?

Correct.

And some benefits accrue back to the university.

Yes.

Because you're a part owner in the license or something of that nature.

Is that the way it works?

Well, for the Palma Stent?

It really came back through philanthropy, you know, from Julio way back then, we weren't as intelligent, let's put it that way, about investing in ideas.

And at that time, that idea sounded so crazy that there was reluctance to invest.

But if we would have invested in that, it would have certainly been a significant.

Investment process.

But that was a trigger for UT system to really get on board in developing offices of technology.

And the same thing happens in the pharmaceutical realm, correct.

Right now, you know, kind of becoming more current.

The Maze Cancer Center, through our own laboratories at the house, sides that are have developed five new novel therapeutics directing their focus on different types of cancers.

And those five therapeutics are now in in the last phases of clinical trials.

And if that actually passes FDA approval and so forth and goes to market, that's going to improve the lives of millions of people globally.

But also, you know, in regards to companies in regards to workforce, in regards to licensing, licensing, revenue coming back, you know, the third issues that come to mind also are, you know, a new opportunity to develop ways of actually mitigating liver cancer.

And so now what Car-T cells, you know, there are a variety of investigators right now, science that are really focusing on liver cancer because it has become one of the number one killers in our region.

Really.

I saw a full page ad in The New York Times a week or so ago that said, your children may not have dementia.

It may be eliminated in the lifetime of our children, grandchildren.

And I presume that means drugs that can address the amyloid build up and that sort of thing in the human brain.

Is that an example of where research would pay off?

You know, dementia is beyond just one issue.

I mean, the cause is multifactorial, and that's why it's been so complex.

And that's where a ecosystem of science in Santa Ana becomes really important.

Number one is, is understanding the molecular pathways as to why this is happening.

Number two is early detection biomarkers.

Number three is identifying therapeutics through, you know, certain molecular signatures.

Number four is there is a real synergy in this realm with Texas BioMed.

Infectious diseases results in a cascade of inflammatory responses.

Chronic inflammation is bad for everything.

It's bad for your heart.

It's bad for keeping a healthy brain in that realm.

What we learn at a Texas biomed is also going to help us address the issues in dementia, and that's why it's really important.

And I think San Antonio is really good at this.

Really good is that we partner more often than we compete with each other.

Competition is a good thing.

Good thing.

But partnership is exceedingly.

Impressed in this conversation about the role of innovation, which is what research seeks to stimulate correct innovation and how that's multiplied and ripples through the system.

That's impressive to me.

It's a principal innovation.

Invest in innovation, which is which is research looking at the future of San Antonio, what you've done in the merger, what you've done in the relationship with Texas BioMed is huge in terms of putting us on the leading edge.

And I know that some talk about the merger was modeled on places like North Carolina and UCLA and other big centers where things are integrated this way.

Just give me your picture of San Antonio in let's make it reasonable ten years.

Well, I mean, I think.

This is 180,000 people employed.

Now.

This is, first of all, Military City.

And the military itself has a large portfolio in research effort, clinical research efforts that also intersect with our organizations drama wounds, trauma and and inflammation, which is inflammation.

Science is really behind a lot.

Francisco stated it very clearly.

It's no longer a matter of, are you studying cardiovascular disease?

Are you studying kidney disease?

Are you studying autoimmune disease?

Because there are common links in your body's reaction to these diseases that have the ability to develop something?

Texas bombers very interested in these immunotherapy approaches to solve chronic inflammation, which is an area that we're invested in.

Is San Antonio going to be a factor in the development of some major things of this nature?

I think.

So you asked me about where is our leverage, because at Texas BioMed we do think about competition nationally all the time.

It's key that we stay strategic with our strengths.

We have some real national, renowned programs in our combined organizations, and I think we need to continue to invest in them.

But if I had through the Pebble, I would say continued growth, more and more partnerships, public private type partnerships, and the ability to translate discovery through that so-called valley of death to get things to the clinic and to do that more effectively.

And I think that's something we're all discussing to, in a sense, be.

More multiple relationships with national corporations.

I do that immediately send you research problems that they have.

Correct.

And that happened during Covid where you would you would.

Be accelerated during Covid.

And now with Ebola outbreak.

You were one of the first institutions they call it.

Right.

And you talk about discovery out of San Antonio, the Covid 19, because.

Of the primates.

And part of that was part of the.

Primate and that asset.

And, you know, a comment about human health and the back to the community.

Your initial question, the discoveries we make in our organizations, right, like the Covid 19 vaccine, was used heavily in the city of San Antonio and saved lives.

So our discoveries have local impact.

They impact the economy locally in a way that I think is something we need to.

Focus on.

You've worked your your whole life in advancing medicine, and now you've committed multiple years after having been chancellor of the entire UT system to building the medical base of UT San Antonio, but also our community ten years from now.

So ten years from now.

Well.

Let me ask you this in two parts.

I think.

That we in.

Our university or Larry in Texas, need to listen to.

Our community.

And three of the most significant endeavors.

That the health sciences undertaken has come from ideas from our business community, sandbars.

To translate that to the Bar Shop Longevity and Aging Institute, which is now one of the top three aging research institutes in the United States.

Huge breaking field, correct?

A huge breaking field.

Yes.

And growing, you know, really working on frailty.

You know, you and I and Larry are scared of frailty because as we age, you know, our muscle mass drops and we practice and so forth.

Maybe boomers.

Are coming, right.

Second is the maze family, whether it's tremendous investment in the Maze Cancer Center.

And that's a major emphasis in we're on the cusp of becoming a comprehensive cancer center, which is only 71 in the United States or on the cusp.

Third is Glenn Biggs with the center for Brain Health and the Alzheimer's Institute.

And that has been, again, a conversation between Glenn Biggs, Bill Hendricks and what is come with that?

You know, we are a top ten center for brain health in America.

And we.

Have massively breaking.

We have depressed, you know which hopefully we'll start allocating funds soon, which is a $3 billion investment.

And that's going to be good for the San Antonio economy.

But also you know, this is a place, an epicenter.

We're really tremendous discoveries will take place that will improve, you know, our family's lives.

Well.

You've made the case that research is a fundamentally important element of any thinking about the biosciences.

I do want to add, you didn't ask me the question about ten years from now.

Taylor and I are working very closely in establishing the pathway to become a top 20 public research university in our nation, and we are well on that path.

But we can't do it alone.

We need to partner with Larry and others.

Second, the community and the business community needs to help, and we need to create San Antonio as.

And maybe it's beyond San Antonio.

It's this region.

Region that can actually attract venture capital, that can invest in these areas of putting a discovery in the lab to market, because that does require the acumen of great business leaders.

And we've got it here in San Antonio.

But there's venture capital to flesh out ongoing early activity.

And then there's larger companies that come in and such things.

But but I want.

To emphasize this point about critical mass, because you can work hard to try to bring people here.

But I'll tell you what, as we continue to grow in these areas with becoming nationally ranked in a number of organizations, biomed is rapidly becoming the place in the private sector as a national biodefense hub that will help us bring more and more of this business mindedness into the city.

The downstream benefits are enormous for the city.

Gentlemen.

One last thing.

Is Texas is at a competitive advantage right now.

And yes, all of us are facing headwinds.

But Texas is uniquely positioned right now to recruit some of the very best physician scientists to come.

And Texas is Austin.

San Antonio is.

But let's not miss the opportunity.

And thanks to your work, San Antonio.

Yes.

That's not missed that opportunity.

Thank you.

I think we could go on forever.

I hope you do.

I hope you do go on forever.

Well.

Not me, but I think.

This conversation.

Can go on forever.

That's another breaking field.

Longevity for living forever.

Where we're we're working on it.

We're glad you could join us for this discussion on biomedical research here on the Business of Business San Antonio.

You can watch a show again, as well as our previous episodes on YouTube or.

or KLRN.org For business of business.

I'm Henry Cisneros.

This program is supported by Texas Mutual Workers Compensation Insurance.