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Cynthia Lopez, MD

Contact

210-210-562-5344

lopezc@uthscsa.edu

Departments & Divisions

Cynthia Lopez, M.D.

Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Although my career at UT Health San Antonio began in 2013, I have been teaching medical students and residents since 2002 in the Rio Grande Valley via the Regional Academic Health Center.  UTHSCSA sponsored the Master Teaching Course that sent me on the path to a career in Academic Medicine.  In 2016, a Clinical Safety and Effectiveness course and a Teaching Excellence course improved my skills in teaching and quality improvement. I have authored a number of Pediatric resident teaching modules with specific interests in the areas of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Anxiety and Depression, Medical Home, various GI topics, and more recently Transitioning of youth to adult Medical Homes as well as Asthma.  I collaborated with our UHS Pediatric Psychiatrist to develop a curriculum to increase the pediatric mental health workforce. Interdisciplinary courses and teaching have long been personal interests.   June 2019, I organized and was a speaker at a School Nurse Asthma Summit for Region 20 and secured 4 hours of CNE for all attendants.  That same year, our Asthma QI group developed clinically relevant teaching materials that have been included in an AAP package for change around asthma management principles; this was a product of our involvement of in a large hub-based QI project in the state of Texas which I was proud to lead.

  • Professional Background

    Education

    • 1997 - MD - Pediatrics - University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
    • 1992 - BA - Microbiology - University of Texas at Austin

    Training

    • 2000 - Residency - Pediatrics - UT Health San Antonio

    Appointments

    • 9/1/2020-present - Associate Professor/Clinical - UT Health San Antonio
    • 8/2013-8/2020 - Assistant Professor/Clinical - UT Health San Antonio
    • 6/2012-8/2013 - Pediatrician - A thru Z Pediatrics
    • 9/2000-5/2012 - Pediatrician, Chief; Associate Medical Director - Su Clinica Familiar
    • 2007-2012 - Associate Clinical Professor, Adjunct - UT Regional Academic Health Center
    • 2002-2007 - Assistant Clinical Professor, Adjunct - UT Regional Academic Health Center

  • Instruction & Training

    • 2/2017 - Present, Ambul Prim Care Preceptor, The University of Texas Health Science Center
    • 5/2015 - Present, Didactic Teaching Sessions, UT Health Science Center Pediatric Residents
    • 8/2013 - Present, Attending physician in Continuity Clinic, UT Health Science Center
    • 8/2013 - Present, Rotation Student Supervision, UT Health Science Center
    • 8/2013 - Present, Curriculum Development, UT Health Science Center
    • 8/2013 - Present, Pediatric Acute Care Clinic Attending, UTHSCSA

  • Research & Grants

    For the past 5 years, I have mentored residents in five QI projects to improve care in a Medical Home.  As the co-leader of our local program in a national pediatric residency QI project, my colleague and I demonstrated an increased uptake of HPV immunization rates in adolescents.  I also lead another study as part of the same national organization (APA), which surveyed the complexity of patients seen in Pediatric residency clinics.  I have presented 3 posters at UT Health San Antonio and UT Austin on this work as well as a poster on a collaboration with our Pediatric psychiatrist in 2014. May 2018 to 2019, I served as our group's physician lead on a statewide project that optimized asthma care for 90% of our pts.

  • Service

    Department

    In AY2020, I mentored a resident and developed a clinical research study on parental perception of obesity in children producing an abstract for publication and posters accepted by the AAP annual meeting; the poster also won first place in the TPS annual meeting for Hypothesis Driven Project. Mentored Pediatric residents in QI projects for 5 years; last poster won First Place in Evidence Based Medicine/QI in the Texas Pediatric Society annual meeting October 2020.

    School

    For a few years, I participated in MS4 Veritas Mock Interviews.  Over the past year, I was privileged to mentor a 1st Year Medical Student through the Longitudinal preceptor program.

    Community

    I am a member for the TPS Mental Health Committee, which advocates for children of Texas who require mental health services including those with more complex medical issues and Autism. Since 2018, I have also been a member of the Foster Care Committee in TPS.   Finally, I have volunteered since 2018 as subcommittee lead for the South Texas Asthma Coalition which brings forth solutions to decrease asthma hospitalizations as well as the UHS Asthma care committee.

  • Clinical

    Attending/Teaching 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Year Pediatric Residents in Continuity and Children’s Acute Care Clinics.  Precept and teaching of 3rd & 4th Year Medical Students in Children’s Acute Care Clinic.   Develop education materials and curriculum including objectives, readings, discussion questions and/or seminar activities for Continuity Clinic modules on several pediatric topics.  Facilitator: Teaching Conferences for Pediatric Residents 1 hour (2-3 times a week).  Evaluate Resident competency in Continuity Clinic quarterly and in Acute Care Clinic monthly.  Monthly in-room resident observation and feedback in acute care clinic. Co-Director MS 4 Ambulatory Care Elective since February 2017.

    Board Certifications

    • 2002 - General Pediatrics