IT STARTED WITH THE VAGUEST OF GOOD INTENTIONS. Back in 1939 a Houston cotton trader named Monroe D. Anderson, a transplant from Tennessee, died and left a portion of his fortune—roughly $19 million—to a foundation he’d established for “the betterment and welfare of mankind.” It was the largest charitable organization Texas had ever seen, and the executors of Anderson’s estate sought to find a way to benefit the most people. That ultimately led to 134 acres of Houston swampland transforming into a “city of medicine,” a place where the most cutting-edge techniques, treatments, and approaches to combatting disease would all be located. So when Covid-19 swept the globe earlier this year, it was no surprise that Houston doctors stepped up, working to understand this new disease, to find treatments, vaccines, and whatever else has been needed to help Houston, and the rest of the world, grasp how to combat an invisible enemy. We at Houstonia spoke with some of the selfless medical professionals on the frontlines in this battle. Here are their stories.