JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas — The military’s only burn center has moved into a new, state-of-the-art home.

The U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center is now housed on the fourth floor of a seven-story, 760,000-square-foot tower that was added to the San Antonio Military Medical Center here. The move from the main building of the hospital to the new facility was completed May 24.

The new burn center features a 16-bed intensive-care unit, two operating rooms, a much larger rehabilitation center, an outpatient clinic and access to a rooftop helicopter landing pad.

The center’s progressive care ward, for inpatients who do not require intensive care, did not move from its current location in the main building of the hospital, but is connected by a walkway to the new facility.

“The long-anticipated occupation of the new burn center highlights the organization’s enduring commitment to combat casualty care and research,” said Col. (Dr.) Evan Renz, director of the burn center. “The new burn center challenges us to use all that we have learned during the war and improve care for the benefit of all future burn patients admitted to our center.”

The move also marks the first time in more than 20 years that the burn center’s various clinics and facilities are consolidated in one location, said Lt. Col. (Dr.) Booker T. King, associate director of the burn center.Click here to read more

Lt. Cmdr. (Dr.) Christopher Burns, center, ues a surgical instrument to prepare a wound for surgery while Burn Center director Col. (Dr.) Evan M. Renz, left, and technician Spc. Dennis Ortiz watch the first surgery performed in the new U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center facility May 25. Photo by Steven Galvan, Army