Our Mission

In 2025, the Mays Cancer Center at The University of Texas at San Antonio continued advancing its mission as the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center in South Texas, expanding access to research, clinical innovation and patient-centered care across the region.

This year marked significant momentum across our research and clinical enterprise. With more than 180 active clinical trials, including 54 newly opened studies, patients throughout South Texas gained greater access to investigational therapies and novel treatment approaches close to home.

A defining milestone in 2025 was the opening of the UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty and Research Hospital. The hospital strengthens our ability to provide inpatient and outpatient oncology services, clinical research and multidisciplinary care in a more connected environment for patients with complex cancer needs.

At the Mays Cancer Center and the UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty and Research Hospital, physicians and scientists are advancing a new era of medicine through groundbreaking therapies and highly specialized care once unavailable in South Texas. This year, clinical teams delivered the region’s first ultrasound-based treatment for a brain tumor while also treating the first patients to receive advanced cellular therapies at the hospital. These milestones reflect more than individual achievements. They represent UT Health San Antonio’s growing role as a leading academic health center where discovery, innovation and patient care come together to expand what is possible for patients across Texas and beyond.

Research growth continued to reflect the extraordinary momentum and scientific leadership emerging from the Mays Cancer Center in 2025. The cancer center secured a newly funded multi-project National Cancer Institute grant led by Reuben S. Harris, while overall research funding increased 11% and peer-reviewed funding rose 10%. The center also completed submission of its Cancer Center Support Grant renewal application to the National Cancer Institute, an important milestone expected to further affirm the groundbreaking science, translational discovery and lifesaving clinical innovation being advanced by Mays Cancer Center researchers and physicians on behalf of patients across Texas and the nation.

This year also represented a transformative moment for academic medicine and research in San Antonio with the announced merger of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and The University of Texas at San Antonio to form UT San Antonio. Together, the unified institution is emerging as Texas’ third-largest research university, creating unprecedented opportunities for scientific collaboration, innovation and discovery while strengthening the university’s ability to advance healthcare, research and economic prosperity for Texas and the nation.

These accomplishments reflect the dedication of our faculty, researchers, clinicians, staff, donors and community partners, as well as the trust placed in us by patients and families across South Texas.

As you review this year’s report, you will see a cancer center continuing to move forward with purpose and momentum while remaining deeply committed to improving the lives of the people and communities we serve.

With gratitude,

Lei Zheng, MD, PhD
Executive Director
Mays Cancer Center