Together from the start: Alumni couple create rare scholarship

The very first person Robert Hart, MD ’85, met when he got off the bus at the freshman retreat at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston was the woman who would become his wife, Susan Nelson, MD ’84.

“We didn’t start dating until years later,” recalls Robert, a Fort Worth native and Texas Tech graduate. “But we always ended up dancing and talking at class parties.”

At the time, Susan was a second-year student helping to run the retreat. She had originally worked as a pharmacist, having earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Houston, but after a friend dared her to apply to medical school, she found her true calling. She went on to become chief resident in internal medicine while she and Robert completed their advanced training at McGovern Medical School.

“The school gave us a great foundation for everything we’ve done in our careers,” Susan notes.

The couple began their professional journeys in Huntsville before a medical school friend encouraged them to join Ochsner Health in New Orleans. They planned to stay only a few years, but more than three decades later, Louisiana is still home. Today, Susan leads Ochsner’s programs in palliative medicine and bioethics, while Robert serves as Chief Physician Executive of Ochsner Health and President of Ochsner Clinic.

Grateful for their medical education and relationships that shaped their lives, the couple endowed the Drs. Susan Nelson and Robert Hart Medical School Scholarship at McGovern Medical School. Unlike partial scholarships that assist with a portion of tuition, this scholarship provides substantial and sustained support for all four years of medical school, ensuring recipients can focus fully on their training. Their gift is being matched through the university’s Trailblazers program, doubling its impact and helping ease the financial burden for future physicians.

“We both pursued primary care because we were passionate about it,” says Robert. “But I’ve seen how student debt is influencing the paths young physicians take. We want students to have the freedom to choose the field they love—without being limited by finances.”

“I paid for most of my education, but it was much more affordable back then,” Susan adds. “This is our chance to help someone who might not otherwise be able to attend medical school.”

Their philanthropy builds on a family legacy of giving to McGovern Medical School. In 2014, the couple and Susan’s brother Kurt established the Alfred and Elizabeth Nelson Geriatric and Palliative Medicine Endowment in honor of Susan and Kurt’s parents. That gift supports education and research in geriatrics and palliative medicine and, like the couple’s new scholarship, is rooted in a shared commitment to service and giving back.

“My parents weren’t wealthy, but they were always generous,” says Susan. “This is our way of continuing that legacy.”

Susan and Robert hope their gift will inspire other alumni to support the next generation of physicians.

“We’ve been fortunate,” says Robert. “It feels right to give someone else the same opportunity we had.”