1. Bob and Janice McNair have a history of supporting causes that
impact families, and their $2,500,000 gift to Texas Children’s
Hospital continues that tradition.
Their gift through the Robert and Janice McNair
Foundation will establish the McNair Scholars Program at
Texas Children’s to advance the research of juvenile diabetes–a
disease that strikes more than 15,000 children in the United
States each year, including the McNairs’ granddaughter.
The scholars program will provide an appointed
researcher with support for equipment and staff and a lifetime
designation as a McNair Scholar.
“Janice and I discussed what we might do that would have
the most meaningful impact, and we decided that the most
important thing is intellectual capital,” said Bob McNair,
owner of the Houston Texans NFL franchise. “We are
impressed with the accomplishments of Texas Children’s
Hospital and believe they will make a profound difference in
furthering research for the diagnosis and treatment of juvenile
diabetes. We are eager to see the great accomplishments that are
sure to arise from the research of the distinguished
physician/scientists selected to be McNair Scholars.”
Texas Children’s is putting the resources provided by the
McNairs to good use, having selected Rubina Heptulla, M.D.,
pediatric endocrinologist, to be the first Texas Children’s
McNair Scholar. Heptulla, also assistant professor at Baylor
College of Medicine, is conducting research studies to discover
new therapeutic targets in pediatric Type 1 diabetes.
“We are blessed to have such families as the McNairs who
see the vision of our research efforts. Investing in the growth and
development of superb young investigators such as Dr. Heptulla
is vitally important to the future of the management and hope-
fully cure of Type 1 diabetes,” said Morey Haymond, M.D.,
chief of pediatric endocrinology.
“Janice and Bob McNair are heroes in our community.
They care deeply about advancing medical research and patient
care and are thoughtful in the way they go about it,” said Ralph
D. Feigin, M.D., physician-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital
and chair of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine.
In this era of ever-diminishing federal funding, added
Feigin, private philanthropic support from caring, altruistic
people like the McNairs is critical to advancing research.
He said, “I have been inspired by the generosity the
McNairs have shown Texas Children’s as well as other fine
organizations in Houston and beyond. They are both excep-
tionally warm and sincere individuals, and it is my great honor
to partner with them through the McNair Scholars Program at
Texas Children’s Hospital.”
BY TRAVIS MCCLAIN
www.texaschildrens.org • TEXAS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL | 21
Making a Meaningful Impact
Bob and Janice McNair
The McNairs give $2.5 million
to advance juvenile diabetes research
LEADERSINGIVING