In 1961, Dr. Irving Ratner settled in San Antonio, TX and established himself as the first pediatric surgeon in the region. He strongly believed that the patient and their families came first, and with this philosophy, he took care of tens of thousands of patients mainly in central and south Texas and extending into Mexico, and Central America. His joyous legacy of serving his patients and their families continues through The Patient Institute.

The Patient Institute was co-founded by his son, Dr. Adam Ratner; wife, Dr. Joan Ratner; his dedicated medical office manager, Janet Poole, and an enthusiastic cadre of close friends in 2008, a year after Dr. Irving Ratner’s passing.

Since its inception, The Patient Institute has served as a platform for visionary volunteers to create, execute, and administer projects dedicated to serving patients and their caregivers including physicians and physicians-in-training. We have created free healthcare system navigation guides and tools on a variety of topics including managing outpatient and inpatient experiences, caregiver management of Alzheimer’s dementia, patient-physician access, health systems research, and more. Through its evolving WeLEAP program The Patient Institute has also created and developed programs to aid pre-medical, medical students, and physicians-in-training to help them become caring, effective, and happy physicians. To foster leadership and professionalism in physicians, every year The Patient Institute recognizes and awards exemplary leadership in graduating medical students and residents.