Mass General Brigham names Robert Higgins president of Brigham and Women's Hospitals
Higgins currently serves as surgeon-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital and has served in numerous professional roles.
Dr. Robert Higgins has been named president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and executive vice president at Mass General Brigham.
Photo courtesy of Mass General Brigham
Mass General Brigham President and CEO Dr. Anne Klibanski has announced that Dr. Robert S.D. Higgins has been named president of Brigham and Women's Hospital and executive vice president at Mass General Brigham, effective December 2021.
Higgins currently serves as surgeon-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital and is the William Stewart Halsted Professor of Surgery and Director of the Department of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
Klibanski touted Higgins as a leading authority in heart and lung transplantation, minimally invasive cardiac surgery and mechanical circulatory support. He is also known for his research, and is recognized nationally and internationally for his research in the areas of heart and lung transplantation and disparities in outcomes in cardiac surgery.
At Hopkins, Higgins led the enterprise-wide clinical expansion of the Hopkins surgical services program across the Maryland, Washington and Mid-Atlantic regions at five hospitals and multiple ambulatory locations. He also oversaw the development of the surgical services program at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, a pediatric acute care children's hospital located in St. Petersburg, Florida, and led the launch of Hopkins' first systemwide multidisciplinary service line, the Comprehensive Transplant Center.
Prior to joining Hopkins, Higgins served as department of surgery chair and director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center at The Ohio State University Medical Center, and served as a senior registrar in transplantation at Papworth Hospital, the United Kingdom's largest cardiothoracic surgical program and main heart-lung transplant center.
He also served as a major in the United States Army Reserve Medical Corps for 13 years, and while doing so, supported the Richmond Veterans Administration transplantation program.
Among his other past professional roles are president of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, president of the United Network for Organ Sharing, president of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, president and founding member of the Association of Black Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons, and a member of the board of directors of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery.
Higgins earned his bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College and medical degree from Yale School of Medicine. He completed a residency in general surgery and served as chief resident at the University Hospitals of Pittsburgh. He was a Winchester Scholar and fellow in cardiothoracic surgery at the Yale School of Medicine and earned a master's degree in health services administration at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Higgins succeeds Dr. Sunil Eappen, who has been serving as interim president since early March, when Dr. Betsy Nabel stepped down.
THE LARGER TREND
Nabel announced she was stepping down in January after serving in her role for 11 years. During her tenure, Brigham has routinely ranked on the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll of Best Hospitals, received the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's LGBTQ Health Care Equality Leader designation, earned an A in Leapfrog's Hospital Safety Grade program, and earned Press Ganey's Pinnacle of Excellence Award in the category of Patient Experience in Inpatient Care for three consecutive years, starting in 2018.
Under her leadership, the hospital has fostered early-stage technology development activities through the creation of the Translational Accelerator and other programs of the Brigham Research Institute. These resources are dedicated to educating and supporting clinicians and researchers and encouraging the faster and more efficient development of next-generation therapeutics and technologies.
She also led Brigham through the financial challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, growing revenues from $2.9 billion in 2010 to $4.3 billion in 2020, which provided funds needed to support investments in facilities and technology infrastructure.
Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com
