UT Southwestern has developed an enviable national reputation for teaching, scientific inquiry, patient care, and the importance of the Perot family, starting with Margot and Ross Perot, is especially noteworthy when it comes to the development of this institution. The story of the family’s generosity includes medical advances that were only possible because of multi-generational curiosity, intellect, compassion, and determination.

The Perots have long been well-known for their business acumen, activism, and philanthropy, and they have impacted the lives of countless people in our community and beyond. The investments Ross, Margot; their children, Ross Jr., Suzanne, Nancy, Carolyn, Katherine; and their grandchildren have made in UT Southwestern have had a transformative influence on students, physicians, researchers, and most importantly, patients, for more than four decades.
Southwestern Medical Foundation and UT Southwestern have benefited immeasurably from the family’s service as supporters, advocates, and close collaborators. From the start, Ross and Margot made the choice to invest in people who deliver knowledge, and those investments reaped dividends that have included new drugs to treat prostate disease, blood pressure, and cholesterol. With regard to the latter, when Michael S. Brown, M.D., and Joseph Goldstein, M.D., won the Nobel Prize in 1985 for discovering the LDL receptor and its role in cholesterol metabolism, the Perots were quick to laud the first Texas-based, “home-grown” Nobel laureates. Their impassioned advocacy for the work prompted the beginning of Dallas’ ongoing commitment to support biomedical education and research.



After funding the work of Brown and Goldstein, the Perots volunteered to contribute to the efforts of their young associates. These 18 UT Southwestern scientists became known as “Perot protégés,” and their record is nothing short of remarkable. Eight of the 18 were elected into the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, an honor received by fewer than one in 1,000 biomedical scientists. Two others—Thomas Südohof, M.D., and Alfred Gilman, M.D., Ph.D.—have also been honored with Nobel Prizes.
The Perot family’s activism and advocacy also extended to veterans in a very meaningful way. In 1994, three years after the Persian Gulf War, the couple approached UT Southwestern for advice. Military service members who had been deployed in top condition were returning in poor health, even when they weren’t involved in direct combat. Insiders told the Perots that the government planned to call the condition psychological reaction to deployment stress” and then do little else about it. The Perots found that unacceptable. They asked UT Southwestern scientists to conduct an independent study of the condition—The Perot Foundation would support the endeavor financially and run political interference.

The Perots’ efforts also garnered the support of then-Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who played a critical role in securing federal funding for further research on Gulf War Illness, amplifying the impact of UT Southwestern’s work on behalf of veterans. Because the Perots and UT Southwestern took an early stand in support of America’s Gulf War veterans, an estimated 200,000 people with Gulf War Illness benefited from their research. The work continues. Epidemiologist Robert Haley, M.D., and his colleagues are currently completing advanced genomics studies they hope will result in a diagnostic test and treatments for Gulf War Illness. They are confident that someday a cure will be discovered, thanks to the compassionate leadership of this family.
In the late 1980s, Ross and Margot made a substantial initial investment in UT Southwestern’s unique M.D./Ph.D. program. The family did not stop there. In 2022, The Perot family, The Perot Foundation, and The Sarah and Ross Perot, Jr. Foundation provided a transformative $50 million endowment for UT Southwestern’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), among the nation’s elite programs that provide graduates a dual M.D./Ph.D. degree to strengthen the advancement of laboratory discoveries into the clinical arena.
Funding will provide a permanent endowment for the Perot Family Scholars Medical Scientist Training Program, one of just 54 M.D./Ph.D. training programs in the country supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The 44-year-old program graduates top-level physician-scientists from UT Southwestern
Medical School and UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, both among the top-ranked schools nationally.
The Perot family’s support expands the number of students admitted to the dual-degree program, as well as research disciplines of study that include biomedical engineering, computational biology, bioinformatics, and data science. The investment also enhances the curriculum and experiences of MSTP students and increases efforts to recruit students from elite U.S. colleges, including top international students who wish to stay in the U.S. for their careers.

The Perot Family Scholars program builds on a legacy that Ross and Margot began investing in four decades ago, in 1987, with the $20 million gift supporting Nobel Laureates Michael S. Brown, M.D., and Joseph Goldstein, M.D., continued with their support of the Medical Scientist Training Program, and furthered in 1996 with more than $23 million of additional support for training and biomedical research. The Perot family has also generously supported the Perot Foundation Neuroscience Translational Research Center and mental health programs.
Although Ross Sr. passed away in 2019, the Perots’ decades-long philanthropic investments live on. They have played a significant role in launching UT Southwestern into a world-renowned epicenter of biomedical advancement and excellent patient care. Carolyn Perot Rathjen has been a dedicated member of Southwestern Medical Foundation’s Board since 2004, serving as a Trustee and currently as an Honorary Trustee. During her tenure, she contributed significantly as a member of the Awards Committee, including a term as Chair of the Committee. Ross Mulford, son of Nancy Perot, and his wife, Tori, are active members of The Cary Council. The family’s committed support continues to result in bold, transformative action that has forever enhanced our world.