Three faculty researchers from The University of Texas at San Antonio were celebrated with the inaugural Texas Innovation Award, a new statewide award recognizing leadership in translating academic research into real-world impact.
The awards were presented during the Texas Innovation Conference & Awards on April 22–23 at the Texas Christian University campus in Fort Worth.
The Texas Innovation Conference & Awards aims to strengthen the state’s innovation network by highlighting researchers whose work directly contributes to the Texas economy and public well-being. Nominees in the University Innovator category are selected for their measurable progress in commercialization, startup formation or industry collaboration.
The UT San Antonio nominees represent a cross-section of the university’s growing research enterprise, with focuses ranging from life-saving medical devices to artificial intelligence and mental health accessibility.
“The UT San Antonio research community is deeply committed to making lives better through scientific discovery and innovation, and these three researchers truly embody that mission,” said Jennifer Sharpe Potter , PhD, MPH, senior executive vice president for research and innovation. “Their work is a testament to how academic research can be actively translated into startups and technologies that save lives, improve healthcare and grow the Texas economy. We are incredibly proud to see their leadership recognized on a statewide stage.”
Modernizing emergency care
Lyle Hood , PhD, associate professor of mechanical engineering, was recognized for his work transforming airway management in prehospital and combat settings. Through his Medical Design Innovations Laboratory , Hood has built a translational engineering program dedicated to modernizing the equipment used by first responders.
His team has developed three distinct portable suction platforms tailored to different operational environments, ranging from pocket-sized systems for point-of-injury care to units capable of aeromedical evacuation. These systems address long-standing gaps in reliability and weight. Hood and his team have engineered next-generation endotracheal tubes designed to improve success rates for providers operating under extreme conditions.
A defining feature of Hood’s work is early end-user engagement. His team has conducted customer discovery involving hundreds of clinicians and medics to ensure engineering designs meet real-world needs. To bring these technologies to market, Hood co-founded the university-backed startup EmergenceMed LLC . His translational portfolio has attracted more than $3 million in competitive funding from federal agencies and private sources, and his lab has served as a pipeline for more than 100 student innovators.
Driving AI in health care
Amina Qutub , PhD, the Burzik Endowed Professor of Engineering Design and associate professor in biomedical engineering, was recognized for her leadership in AI-driven health solutions. Qutub serves as a research lead and assistant director of strategic partnerships for the MATRIX AI Consortium at UT San Antonio and co-Director of the Center for Precision Medicine .
Qutub’s research sits at the intersection of computer science, biology and engineering. She has co-founded two biotech startups: PaloBio, which creates digital advocates for individuals with atypical neurological conditions, and Leah, which develops AI solutions for trauma care.
She leads BEACON, a newly launched statewide initiative that transforms trauma and stroke care with real-time AI decision support and recovery tools. BEACON is the brainchild of the statewide iRemedyACT Consortium that Qutub leads with trauma care experts Brian Eastridge, MD, and Alan Cook, MD. The consortium unites 30+ clinicians, AI, and biomedical engineers across seven UT hospitals and UT San Antonio. Together, they are building AI systems and data infrastructure that cut delays in emergency care and drive faster, better decisions when every second counts.
Qutub also directs the Quantu Project, a nationwide study integrating biosensing and neurogenesis assays to optimize brain health across the human lifespan. Her work has earned her a fellowship in the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, National Academies Keck Future Initiatives award, and a National Science Foundation CAREER award. In 2025, she was selected as a U.S. Department of State Overseas Speaker for the “AI in Innovation” tour, further amplifying the global impact of her work.
Scaling mental health services
David L. Roberts , PhD, associate professor of psychiatry, was recognized for his efforts to address the behavioral health workforce bottleneck through his platform, Reflective Training (RT) .
Roberts’ latest innovation, RT, transforms counseling psychotherapy training for degree students from a passive, lecture-based model into a scalable, practice-driven system.
The web-based platform replaces traditional passive learning with structured role-plays and actionable feedback. By treating training as a “performance science,” RT allows advanced learners to serve as coaches, reducing the reliance on scarce expert faculty while preserving rigor. RT has been integrated into medical student and resident training at UT San Antonio, including a student-led initiative in which a student champion trains cohorts of learners in counseling skills for rotations in substance use residential centers. Recent research has shown that RT-trained counseling interns performed as well as licensed clinicians in providing crisis counseling for psychiatric patients, saving Bexar County nearly $300,000 over two years.
To scale the platform beyond the university, Roberts co-founded the startup Reflective Learning Inc. alongside colleague Megan Fredrick, MA, LPC-S. The platform is currently used for clinical staff onboarding and quality assurance across UT clinics and community agencies throughout Texas. RT has recently been adopted by Communities in Schools to train 60 school counselors to teach emotion management skills to students. Additionally, RT is now used to onboard and train crisis counseling staff at the Haven for Hope homeless services campus that serves all of Bexar County.
Roberts is also known for his development of Social Cognition and Interaction Training for individuals with schizophrenia, an approach now used by more than 3,000 clinicians across eight countries.