UT San Antonio climbs in Blue Ridge NIH funding rankings during major UTSA and UT Health integration

A merged research footprint comes into sharper focus

UT San Antonio’s first year as an integrated institution is being marked by measurable gains in national research standings tied to federal health-science funding. The advances are reflected in the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research rankings, an annual compilation built from National Institutes of Health (NIH) award data that is widely used to benchmark biomedical research performance across U.S. institutions.

The integration formally brought together the University of Texas at San Antonio and UT Health San Antonio under a single name and structure, a change that expanded the combined university’s size and research scope. University leaders have described the consolidated institution as serving more than 42,000 students, employing about 17,000 faculty and staff, offering more than 320 academic programs, and sustaining an annual research portfolio reported at $486 million, alongside more than 500 clinical trials.

Long School of Medicine breaks into the national top 50

One of the most visible research signals in the Blue Ridge cycle was the performance of the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine. In the Blue Ridge NIH medical research funding table, the Long School of Medicine rose three positions to rank 49th among 148 U.S. medical schools, associated with roughly $125.4 million in NIH funding for the measured period.

Department-level rankings also highlighted concentration areas in basic and clinical science. Among the listed basic science departments, biochemistry ranked 13th nationally, while pharmacology ranked 14th. Additional placements included anatomy/cell biology at 22nd and genetics/molecular medicine at 23rd. In clinical sciences, neurology ranked 22nd, obstetrics/gynecology ranked 22nd, public health ranked 24th, radiology ranked 30th, and urology ranked 21st.

Dental research standing remains nationally competitive

The UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry maintained a prominent position in NIH-linked research funding among peer programs. In the same Blue Ridge reporting cycle, the school was listed 14th among 48 dental schools, with $6.1 million in NIH medical research funding.

Public health program posts an early national placement

The University of Texas School of Public Health San Antonio—created as a partnership between UT Health San Antonio and UTSA—also appeared in the Blue Ridge results. In the referenced rankings, the school debuted at 33rd among 71 public health schools nationwide, tied to $7.2 million in NIH funding. University materials separately describe the school as having been authorized by the UT System Board of Regents and launching its inaugural cohort in fall 2024.

How NIH funding is used to track research capacity

Blue Ridge rankings rely on NIH award totals, which function as a standardized metric in biomedical research, reflecting competitive grant acquisition across institutions and disciplines. In UT Health San Antonio’s broader NIH profile during the same period, the university reported $139.3 million in NIH funding in 2024, with a national placement at 69th overall among NIH-funded institutions. The institution also reported accounting for the majority of NIH medical research funding attributed to San Antonio in that year.

• Key 2024–2025 Blue Ridge-related highlights include: Long School of Medicine at 49th nationally among U.S. medical schools.
• School of Dentistry at 14th among ranked dental schools in NIH medical research funding.
• School of Public Health San Antonio debuting at 33rd among public health schools in the referenced cycle.

These rankings are derived from NIH award data and are used nationally to compare research funding performance across medical and health-science programs.