About Us
Our Mission
Imagine living with strength and vitality throughout your life span, growing older with vigor and without a disability. The Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies brings together the world’s leading scientists in aging and longevity research and providing them with the latest technologies in the application of cutting-edge research methods, supports their drive for excellence in scientific inquiry, an essential element to bringing good health and enhanced quality of life to our aging population.
Aging affects everyone. Never before in the history of humankind has understood how and why we age been so important. As human life expectancy continues to increase, so must our scientific knowledge of aging processes to ensure healthy longevity, free of the disabilities brought about by age-related diseases and conditions.
Our Mission is to understand the basic biology of aging, discover therapies that will treat and cure the diseases of aging by fostering dynamic, collaborative research, education, and training of our future scientists and clinicians, as well as promoting public awareness of age-related issues.
Our Vision
This vision of a world-class center for aging research first came into focus in 1991, when Dr. Edward J. Masoro founded the UT Health Science Center’s Aging Research and Education Center through a leadership award granted to him by the National Institutes of Health.
In 2001, the Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies was born thanks to a generous donation from Mr. and Mrs. Sam Barshop, prominent San Antonio philanthropists. Dr. Musi and the faculty members at the Barshop Institute are extremely grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Barshop for their vision and steadfast support in helping to develop the Barshop Institute into an unparalleled center for studies of aging and age-related diseases.
Meet Our Director
Nicolas Musi, MD
Nicolas Musi, MD is a Physician-Scientist who received clinical training in Internal Medicine at the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Medical Center. Dr. Musi then completed a clinical and research fellowship in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Joslin Diabetes Center-Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in 2001, after which he joined the Harvard faculty. Recruited to UT Health San Antonio in 2003, he served as Associate Director for clinical research at the Texas Diabetes Institute. Upon being named Director of the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute in 2013, Dr. Musi also serves as the Associate Director for Research Programs, San Antonio Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC), and Director of UT Health San Antonio’s Center for Healthy Aging.
Dr. Musi’s research expertise is in aging, insulin resistance, and exercise physiology. Dr. Musi has a robust research program in metabolic/endocrine gerontology, devoted to exploring the effects that aging has on numerous metabolic and cellular processes and relevant to the pathogenesis of age-related diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and sarcopenia. An active educator and research mentor supervises clinical and research fellows, residents, and graduate students.
“The most exciting area of aging research is the new translational approach to take discoveries from the research bench to the patient bedside,” he says. “We are at the point of finding mechanisms that control aging and trying to intervene to promote health as age advances.”
Our collaborative partners
Resources for geriatric clinical science and clinical practice are provided by the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Medicine.
Also, many of our Barshop faculty members are cross-appointed at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, Audie L. Murphy Division, where the research division supports the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC). Our researchers and physician-scientists affiliated with the Audie Murphy VA Hospital are involved in a wide range of basic and clinical programs designed to promote healthy aging and quality of life.
Our Collaborative Partners Include:
Contact Us
Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies
UT Health San Antonio
7703 Floyd Curl Drive, MC 7755
San Antonio, Texas 78229
Phone: 210-562-6140
BarshopInstitute@uthscsa.edu