Dr. Angela McCain
May 7, 1957 ~ September 21, 2025
Born in: Naples, Texas
Resided in: Sugar Land, Texas
Dr. Angela McCain
SUGAR LAND – Angela McCain MD, a leader in rheumatology thought and practice and an avid world class Nikon bird and wildlife photographer, died Sept 21, 2025 at the age of 68 from Glioblastoma Multiforme brain cancer discovered only 50 days after she gave a GRAND ROUNDS LECTURE on Rheumatology 101 at HMSL Feb 20th,2025. Born in 1957 in Naples, Texas, she determined to be a doctor at 6 years of age when one of the small children in her local church died of cancer, and with focus and determination she studied and graduated first from Daingerfield High School in 1975, then University of Houston with a BS in Science in 1979, and finally The University of Texas Medical School in Houston (now McGovern Medical School) in 1984 with her Doctor of Medicine degree. She entered on an Internal Medicine Residency, then a Rheumatology Fellowship also at UT, after becoming excited at Dr. Frank Arnett’s enthusiasm in showing her the variety and difficulty of diagnosing and treating 113 chronic rheumatic diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus, a fascination she never lost, as attested by the nearly 16,000 patients from throughout South Texas and the world that sought her advice. She was noted for her folksy charm, sharp wit and riotous laughter that often accompanied those visits, and her dedication to her practice was total. It was not well-known, but one of the factors making Dr McCain a dedicated and compassionate clinician was the fact that she suffered late-onset rheumatoid arthritis herself. “I understand my patients an entirely different way” she said, after facing much of the pain and difficulties brought on by the disease.
She was an early adopter of electronic medical records and even helped design the rheumatology interface for Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital’s implementation of Epic EHR. From 1995 on she was repeatedly nominated by her peers for BEST DOCTORS, TEXAS MONTHLY SUPERDOCS and other honors, most of which made her want to work harder. She and her husband, David M Lanagan, PhD, founded TEXAS RESEARCH CENTER and proceeded to do over 50 clinical trials. Because of research Dr. McCain was one of the first physicians to test Enbrel and subsequent biologics for rheumatic disease. In 2014 she became associated with Houston Methodist Specialty Physicians and Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital in what she described as one of the best experiences of her life. She was instrumental in assembling the present rheumatology team of Latifa Fakoya DO, Ruba Memon MD and Quratul Raja MD, and office staff all of whom she regarded as the finest rheumatology group in the South.
In 2006 she became interested in photography as an avocation, then bird and wildlife photography. She sought out the best training available, notably from Alan Murphy and Brian E Small and travelled the world. She progressed rapidly and her mentors judged her work as world class, recognized by the fact that she was a photographer for Laguna Seca Ranch, where she often led workshops. She was asked to mount a major 75 image exhibition to reopen the gallery at the Fort Bend George Memorial Library. Some of her images appear in iBirds and other reference works and apps available for birders. She was exclusively a Nikon shooter. She was a member of the Fort Bend Photography Group and other local and national associations.
Privately, she was a musician, sang alto, played the piano and French Horn and became a pro-level chef. She originated several recipes for low carb foods and starred in her own Youtube cooking show – “Cooking With Angela.”
She and David were the apex of a tight-knit blended family consisting of Kelly Sole (William and son Philip and daughter Hannah- Sugar Land, Caitlin Chacko (husband Anil, stepson Phoenix and son Nathan -Sugar Land). Leslie Diane Lanagan (Baltimore, MD) and Lindsay Lanagan Zeis (Mathew – Houston). The couple always regarded all four children as their own.
The family will receive friends for a time of viewing and visitation, Thursday evening from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM, September 25, 2025 in the Chapel of Horn Family Funeral Home in Daingerfield. Honoring her requests, services are under the direction of Horn Family Funeral Home in Daingerfield.
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM Saturday, September 27, 2025 in the Chapel of Earthman Southwest Funeral Home, 12555 S. Kirkwood Rd., Stafford, Texas 77477. The family will receive friends, doctors, and patients beginning at 9:00 AM prior to the service on Saturday. Inurnment will be at Glenwood Cemetery area J51 in Houston. Memorial gifts may be sent in her name to FOREVER ANGELS SOCIETY, Child Advocates Fort Bend, 5403 Ave N, Rosenberg, TX 77471 (https://www.cafb.org/waystogive/)
Services
Visitation: Thursday, September 25, 2025 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Horn Family Funeral Home Chapel
400 Webb Street
Daingerfield, TX 75638
Funeral Service: Saturday, September 27, 2025 11:00 am
Earthman Southwest Funeral Home
12555 S. Kirkwood Rd.
Stafford, TX 77477
Visitation: Saturday, September 27, 2025 9:00 am - 11:00 am
Earthman Southwest Funeral Home
12555 S. Kirkwood Rd.
Stafford, TX 77477
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They’re are no words sufficient to offer. But I am truly heartbroken for the family. I am so grateful for her role in my journey. She truly changed lives in remarkable ways. Rest in peace my friend 🙏🏻❤️
Much Love, Tim Conner
Angela was my Doctor for 25+ years. She was so much more than that! David- I’m so sorry to hear this! I was worried about her and hoped I would be able to see her soon! She was an amazing doctor and human being. I will miss our talks!
I am heartbroken! She was a light, a force and a star on this earth! I was her patient but I respected her so much in life as well as my doctor. Her love of her pets, her love is science and knowledge, her photography, her zeal for life and love of her husband – she was an inspiration for all women. She changed my life and I don’t know if she knew how much! I hope in heaven she knows!
Sorry for the families loss. You are in our hearts and prayers.
Dr McCain was such a caring and professional rheumatologist. I was under her care for about 15 years, and each appointment was like a visit with an old friend. Her medical care was the best. I am so fortunate to have known her and wish the family strength and hope during this difficult time.
Serena Speaker
She now has her angel wings in heaven!! I am soooo heartbroken & hurting! She was my primary doctor for everything for 15+ years but most of all, we are friends. As I prayed for her, I will pray for all of you in your time of loss, sadness & pain. Just know she filled all her shoes to the max– wife, mom, Nana, friend, doctor/healer, artistically talented in many areas, the list goes on & on. Soooo thankful God gave her to us during her time here on earth. She will be waiting for you in heaven!
I found out today unexpectedly & couldn’t stop crying and was left heartbroken. My deepest condolences to her beautiful family and friends.You all are in our thoughts and prayers. Dr.McCain was not just a healer but a source of hope and comfort. I am so grateful for the wisdom and care she imparted to me. She was the only Doctor who could mange my Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis and took me off Pain Meds after 15 years of suffering and treatment with other doctors in USA with no success. She told me that we will start from the basement and move forward. She guided me with all my other 10 health issues and made sure I am in good health and shape. My last visit, I thanked her for all the support, kindness & advice she provided me for all these years & always thank God for blessing me with her presence in my life. She looked at me and said “You worked hardest and I am very proud of you”. Those were her last words to me!😢 Rest peacefully among the stars Dr.McCain, love and miss you! Your memory is a treasure I will cherish forever🙏❤️
God bless you and keep you, Dr. McCain. You helped and are missed by so many, myself included. You were a one-of-a-kind doctor that I looked forward to seeing every 6 months. Thank you for your wisdom and wit. I loved being your patient and miss you immensely.
She was not just my doctor for 10 years but a trusted friend. She showed compassion and concern for every inch and area of my life every time I saw her. This is the strongest most compassionate person I have known and probably will ever know.
I truly miss you Dr Angela McCain and I am so grateful to have been in your care and been able to call you my friend. I miss your jokes your smile and your attitude towards life. You went to bat for me, you listened to me, you cared about me. Even after your diagnosis your concern was still about others. One of a kind doctor and friend. You will be forever missed.
Dr. McCain was an incredible physician, she was always compassionate and caring. She will be greatly missed. May her memory be a blessing for all time.
Sending my deepest condolences to Dr.Angela McCain’s family.She was my rheumatologist for over 25 years. She was the most caring, compassionate, down to earth doctor I’ve ever had.
I will miss her so much!
Sincerely,
Lynda Frazier
Sincerely,
Meera Bagati
With love,
We our heartbroken over her sudden demise. We will always hold you dear to our hearts.
Praying for David, the children and grandchildren.
Blessings and Deepest Regards,
We our heartbroken over her sudden demise. We will always hold you dear to our hearts.
Praying for David, the children and grandchildren.
Blessings and Deepest Regards,
I am absolutely gutted right now.
Angela McCain was “just” my rheumatologist….but she was so, so much more. I walked into her office at one of my lowest points…convinced something was wrong with my mind, not my body. She was my medical private investigator. She listened, she probed my mind, ran tests, and always, always listened. We laughed and cried. We swapped stories and woes. So many times I went to her at the bottom of my barrel. She heard me. She cared. I was never patient 693….I was me.
I remember telling her my treatment was not working anymore and one drug had me so scared…. She said, “alright let’s throw them both in the garbage (she did) and let’s find a new way forward.” Then (and I just loved watching her when her mind was working, chewing on something) she thought a while and came up with a very nonconventional way forward…that worked for me!!
She was just such a beautiful, loving, upbeat, empowering person.
I would tell her I went snow-skiing, she would tell me she climbed on her elbows and knees at times up a mountain to get 5 minutes worth of bird pictures.
She and I loved to swap (and try to one up each other with our klutziness). Quite a while back she had been assembling a bbq pit and had a mishap that resulted in neck surgery. I already knew how I was going to harangue her after she was out this most recent time….had she decided to remove an engine from a car and dropped it on her foot??
We don’t get to have that conversation and I am so deeply broken …..but mostly I am broken hearted for her family, the incredible team she put together at Houston Methodist, and all the people that do not get to experience her (good) medicine, her love, her raucous laugh, her mesmerizing skill of looking at things from other angles, her photography, her genuineness.
The world is a little duller without her light.
I pray for everyone’s healing.
I pray for her unique and loving way of doctoring to be remembered and emulated, we truly need more like her.
I hope maybe the family and colleagues put together something-a scholarship for medical students or for training in photography, something to honor and remember her.
Angela McCain is a human worth remembering and I hope I try tomorrow to bring her laugh, her curiosity, and her kindness into someone’s day.
Dr. McCain was a spirited, dedicated, inquisitive, loving doctor. All of her patients loved her. She guided me through the rough times of my RA and celebrated the good times with me. She will be dearly missed. Hugs and prayers to her family.
There are no words deep enough to describe what a beautiful, knowledgeable, caring doctor she was. I was her patient for 13 years. After seeing multiple doctors, all of whom had no idea what was wrong with me, and then suggested it was all in my head, Dr McCain was able to diagnose me on my very first visit with her. Admittedly, I was very guarded, quietly wondering if she was going to be like the others I had seen. My first visit with her, she not only listened to every inch of my history and family history, she diagnosed me the very first visit! I was skeptical at first because it was a disease I had never heard of, so when I researched it myself, I realized she was right! Unknowingly that I had been diagnosed with this disease, I had a family member reach out to me for an update on what they were going through. That family member was also diagnosed with the same rare disease! It was clear I was genetically dispositioned for it, and Dr McCain “called it” two years prior to that member of the family having it. Not only did she diagnose me correctly on that one, but in the 13 years I saw her, she diagnosed me two more times with ailments other doctors either missed or said it was all in my head. I was in an orthopedic boot for 3 months! The orthopedic Dr had no idea why my foot wasn’t healing, and decided I should be forwarded to a surgeon. I happened to have a follow up visit scheduled with Dr McCain, who then asked what was wrong with my foot. I told her no one knows and I’m due to see a surgeon. She asked to examine it and did so. She correctly identified that it was due an HLA-B27 inflammation in my blood, and again, mine was likely genetic! She continued, “if I’m right, you’ll be out of that boot in 2-3 days”. “We will do the bloodwork to confirm, but I’m setting you up today with a prescription”, And sure enough I was out of the boot in 2 days! and the bloodwork confirmed her diagnoses; she didn’t wait for the bloodwork to confirm before my treatment began. She was like a cowgirl in the Wild West but in the field of medicine; she was quick on her feet and her mind was sharp. She was already on top of the situation and completely confident in her diagnosis’. I am heartbroken because there will never be another like her. She truly was the best! and I’m grateful to be counted among the hundreds and even thousands of patients she treated in her lifetime. She never treated me like she had already seen a hundred patients prior to me on the same day. As soon as she walked into the exam room, she always made me feel like I was the first one of the day. She made everyone feel heard and seen and that we were a VIP! My heart hurts! and I’ve cried, but I know those of you who got to call her Mom, Wife, Nana, Close Friend, co worker, nurse are the ones hurting all the more. I pray you all find peace in your hearts in the days ahead. She will always, always, be treasured in mine. For me, she was a gift from God because her care, attention to all details, and treatment plans have helped me live a healthier life, which I wouldn’t have now without her.
Thank you Dr McCain! My body is healthier because of you! And I want to thank the staff also for their kindness, hard work, dedication, and compassion through the years. You also have made my life better. I’m forever indebted to Dr McCain for assembling the best staff a patient could ever ask for!
Angela, Thank You, which seems so little compared to everything you gave life, for sharing your heart filled knowledge so naturally and genuine with us all and giving me the chance to be a part of your wonderful journey. I will never ever forget you. You were one of a kind💝 and truly will be missed by all.
Forever thinking of you,🙏
Michelle McNeil
I’m really really really going to miss you. You were the Best! You listened to me and taught me well. Thank you for helping me on my Lupus Journey! God’s Light shown through you! 💫
The family has my sincerest condolences 🙏🏾
With Love and Respect,
Denise Powell-Your Star patient
You came into my life 14 and a half years ago and completely changed it. When you diagnosed me with lupus, I was scared and unsure of what the future would hold but you looked me in the eyes and promised that we would face it together. And you kept that promise. You didn’t just treat me with medicine, you treated me with heart, patience, and care. You believed in healing the whole person: mind, body, and spirit. Together, we built a treatment plan that went beyond prescriptions and appointments it was a lifestyle, a journey, a bond. And you walked every step of it with me. Because of you, I found remission. Because of you, I found hope when I had none. You celebrated my victories and sat with me through my lowest moments. I still remember the tears during tough test result and the joy when we danced at the words “you’re in remission.” You never let me feel defeated. You checked in, even when you didn’t have to, random texts, little notes, warm encouragements. You weren’t just my doctor. You were my friend. You were family.
I used to joke and tell you that you were always invited to the family reunion, and you’d laugh and say, “What time you picking me up?” That was just you warm, genuine, joyful, and real.
You touched every patient like that. You didn’t just treat disease, you healed people. Mind, body, and soul. To Dr. McCain’s beloved husband, daughters, grandchildren, please know how deeply she spoke of you, how brightly her love for you shone. My heart and prayers are with you all. Dr. McCain, thank you for loving me through the darkness, for helping me heal, and for never giving up on me. You were the G.O.A.T., the Greatest of All Time. A true professional, a fierce advocate, and a beautiful soul. You will be missed more than words can say. Rest peacefully, Friend. You earned it.
With all my love and eternal gratitude.
K. Williams
I am so blessed to have had the most compassionate and caring doctor for many years.
Dr McCain treated me as a dear friend and was always going above and beyond with her care for my health. I will miss her so much.
Kelly and Will, Many thanks for your extra help over the years. I truly appreciate it.
She was my Rheumatologist for the last decade and positively changed my life from the moment I had my first appointment with her. A unique and very special person that I am deeply saddened is no longer with us.
I will miss her dearly but never forget what an incredible person she was to me and to everyone who was lucky enough to have her in their life.
She truly was one of a kind and undoubtedly one of the very best medical practitioners to ever grace this earth.