Osteopathic Medicine - Military Connection

San Antonio is called Military City USA for a good reason. America’s largest military community resides here — 250,000 veterans and 80,000 active duty military. Here’s what it means for you as a student of osteopathic medicine:

  • State-of-the-art facilities
  • Top clinical experts
  • Breakthrough medical research
  • Diverse patient population

One in eight residents in the San Antonio region is tied to the military.

 

Joint Base San Antonio

Our campus is surrounded by Joint Base San Antonio, the largest joint base in the U.S., and the largest single employer in San Antonio. It’s a major hub for medical training for the military.

 

San Antonio Military Medical Center

Located on JBSA’s Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio Military Medical Center plays a critical role in patient care, graduate medical education and research, and features:

  • The U.S. Army’s largest and busiest medical center
  • 425 beds and 1.5 million square feet of in-patient hospital space
  • A certified Level 1 Trauma Center that receives more than 4,000 visits a month
  • The 40-bed U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center
  • 58 outpatient specialty clinics that record a million patient visits each year
  • More than 60 accredited education programs that include 25 graduate medical education programs, eight nursing programs, 18 enlisted allied health and medic phase II training programs and more

The Army Medical Department Museum at Fort Sam Houston traces the U.S. Army’s contributions to medicine and medical evacuation back to 1775. The historic campus includes a military medicine and research facility and augments the training of more than 36,000 military and civilian students each year.

 

Military and Aviation Medicine History

UIW School of Osteopathic Medicine operates four state-of-the-art facilities on the UIW Medical Campus at Brooks the former home of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine.

Past breakthroughs achieved here that advanced America's early space flight program include:

  • T-1 partial pressure suit used during flight of first rocket-powered airplane (1947)
  • Space cabin simulation of weightlessness and its impact on human body (1949)
  • World's first air transportable iron lung (1958)