Dr. Robert Svatek was born and raised in Wharton, a small town approximately 60 miles southwest of Houston in the gulf coast region of Texas. He 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 joined the department of urology at UT Health San Antonio in 2010 with a focus on building a bladder cancer center of excellence.

Dr. Svatek is recognized nationally as an expert in the management of superficial and advanced bladder cancer. Treatment of superficial bladder cancer requires careful, meticulous detail and adherence to surveillance regimens. It requires diligence in the administration of proper standardized therapy, but treatment regimens must also be individualized. Expertise in the management of advanced bladder cancer requires proper timing and coordination of multiple treatment modalities available to treat the disease including surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Thus, Dr. Svatek works closely with other subspecialists to provide the optimal therapy for patients.  Dr. Svatek 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). Dr. Svatek has developed a collaborative care pathway in San Antonio with exceptional precision in the pre-operative and post-operative management of patients. Dr. Svatek provides the people of south and southwest Texas with the highest level of expertise and compassionate care. Dr. 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.