Robert S Svatek, M.D., M.S.C.I.

Dr. Robert Svatek attended the University of Texas at Austin for undergraduate training and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston for medical school. He then completed his urology residency training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Following residency, he completed a 3-year fellowship in urologic oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. While there, he also earned his Master of Science in Clinical Research Investigation at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Center for Clinical Research and Evidence-Based Medicine. He was then recruited to the department of urology at UT Health San Antonio in 2010, to build a bladder cancer center of excellence.

Dr. Svatek is recognized nationally as an expert in the management of superficial and advanced bladder cancer and is one of the top five highest-volume bladder cancer surgeons in the United States, performing over 60 bladder removal procedures (cystectomies) yearly. He provides state-of-the-art surgical options, including robotic-assisted and open approaches, as well as all available urinary diversion options, including ileal conduit and continent diversions (Indiana pouch and neobladder).  In addition to his work in the clinical arena, Dr. Robert Svatek is a surgeon-scientist with clinical expertise in early and late-phase clinical trials and urologic cancers. His laboratory expertise is in cancer immunology with an emphasis on understanding the immunopathologic basis of urothelial carcinoma and development of novel immunotherapeutic agents. Research conducted in his lab is rapidly translated into novel clinical trials. Current projects include chemokine signaling mechanisms driving bladder cancer growth and response to immunotherapy, role of innate immune cells including natural killer cells and gamma delta T cells in tumor immunology, significance of regulatory T cells in bladder cancer pathology, and mechanisms underlying BCG immunotherapy.