Knobil Gift Creates $100,000 Endowment

Medical School scholarships help attract, retain promising students

When Julie Hotchkiss Knobil, Ph.D., retired research professor and widow of renowned neuroendocrinologist Ernst Knobil, Ph.D., heard that The University of Texas Medical School at Houston sorely needed scholarship money for its students, she went to work.

In 2001, as a member of the Organization of Faculty Wives and Women Faculty, Knobil served as editor of a cookbook produced by the organization titled Something’s Cooking to fund scholarships. But Knobil wanted to do even more. She personally gave $2,500 to fund the Ernst Knobil Memorial Scholarship,
named in honor and memory of her late husband’s work.

Julie Hotchkiss Knobil, Ph.D

Ernst Knobil, Ph.D.

This year, Knobil had another idea. Instead of setting up a scholarship fund each year, she would set up a fund that would provide annual scholarships in perpetuity. She decided to create a $100,000 permanent endowed scholarship that will benefit medical students for years to come.

“The faculty wives and women faculty and I saw the need and talked to the student affairs staff. We found out how badly they needed the money,” Knobil recalled. “The cookbook drew my attention to the need, but I also thought I should do something privately.”

The newly endowed scholarship, named the Ernst Knobil Endowed Scholarship Fund after the former Medical School dean, will provide scholarship support to needy students enrolled in the Medical School. When the scholarship is fully endowed, a deserving medical student will receive approximately $5,000 each year, or about half a year’s tuition and fees.

UT Health Science Center President James T. Willerson, M.D., said that endowed scholarships are a priority and critical to keep the doors to a medical education open to deserving students regardless of their financial circumstances. He calls the Knobil gift an investment in human capital.

“We are extremely grateful to Dr. Julie Knobil for investing in one of our most valuable resources – our students,” Willerson said. “This scholarship gift helps ensure that we attract and retain the most promising
students.”

Medical School Dean Stanley G. Schultz, M.D., recalls working as a colleague of Julie and Ernst Knobil when he was chairman of physiology at the Medical School. Schultz also worked alongside Ernst Knobil at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where Knobil served as chairman of physiology. He is excited that Julie Knobil has given back so much to the Medical School.

“Both Julie and Ernie Knobil were distinguished educators, and I can think of no better way to commemorate Dr. Knobil’s name than with scholarships that recognize academic excellence,” Schultz said. “This wonderful gift recognizes his important work, and our students will greatly benefit from Julie’s generosity.”

Julie Knobil retired from the UT Health Science Center in 1998 after working as a research professor of physiology and then integrative biology at the Medical School, where she lectured on mammalian physiology and perinatal endocrinology. The Albany, N.Y., native earned a Ph.D. in physiology in 1962 from Harvard University, where she met her future husband. During their 40-year marriage, the Knobils carefully balanced work and family life, rearing four children.

“Ernst was teaching and I was one of his students,” Knobil recalled. “He taught a lot of medical students and postdoctoral fellows throughout his career.”

After battling pancreatic cancer, Ernst Knobil died in 2000 at the age of 73.

Ernst Knobil was Medical School dean from 1981 to 1984. He was considered one of the world’s leading neuroendocrinologists whose work provided the basis for understanding how hormonal imbalances affect a woman’s menstrual cycle. This led to the creation of a successful treatment for infertility caused by low hormone production. The treatment has a 90 percent success rate in achieving pregnancy. After serving as dean, he remained active in the laboratory and classroom until his death.

Julie Knobil is certain that her late husband would have joined her in supporting student scholarships.

“During the 16 years I taught at the Medical School, I saw a lot of first-year medical students with a real need,” she said. “The enormous debt these kids were carrying was mind-boggling. They must have had a real vision in order to keep plugging away while carrying that kind of debt.”

By Jacqueline Preston, Development