Dr. Robert Higgins ’77
Dr. Robert Higgins ‘77 truly loves the positive impact his work has on so many people’s lives on a daily basis. He serves as the president of Brigham and Women's Hospital and EVP of Mass General Brigham. Robert was previously with Johns Hopkins Hospital and specialized in heart transplantation and cardiac surgery which has led to enhanced outcomes among heart failure and cardiac surgery patients. Though his role comes with constant stimulation and hard work, the rewards he encounters are innumerable, and he feels blessed to have the opportunity to save lives. He confidently states, “Pursue something that you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”
Robert always knew that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. His father was a physician serving his community in Charleston, SC as one of the few underrepresented minorities practicing medicine in the 1950s and 1960s in the South. Robert shares that only three percent of the physicians are people of color in the US; those who have made it must help create opportunities for women and individuals coming from diverse backgrounds. He explains, “If we don’t create a future that embraces a more inclusive and diverse workforce, we won’t have the best and brightest people in our field because diversity is what saves lives.” Robert felt that his dad passed before he was able to accomplish many of his goals, and in his honor Robert took the mantle and continued in the field of medicine.
Following the passing of his father, Robert and his family moved to downtown Albany at the age of five. His mother insisted that Robert and his brothers needed structure and academic discipline, in addition to a safe place to go to school. With the support of his grandparents, his mother enrolled them at The Albany Academy knowing that it was the best K-12 experience in Albany. He fondly remembers faculty members Ernie Steck and Bill Curtis who influenced Robert and his classmates to do their best work and mentions his experience at The Albany Academy was filled with a number of influential faculty members who provided many supportive opportunities for him. Robert admits he had a great educational environment and foundation to go on to a great college. He notes, “I couldn’t be the person I am if it wasn’t for the foundation I had at The Albany Academy which led me to go to Dartmouth and then Yale and have so many other great educational opportunities”
Robert consistently had a natural interest in biology, but truly became a passion in college when he injured his knee playing for the Dartmouth Football Team. After requiring a handful of knee surgeries, he refocused his interest in health care, which launched him on a path to pursue a career as a physician. As a medical student at the Medical School at Yale University, Robert’s first clinical mentor was Dr. William Glenn, a well-known pediatric heart surgeon at Yale. Through this mentorship, he became enamored with cardiac surgery and shifted his focus to cardiology and transplantation. Robert marvels, “Not only can we understand the science of taking organs from one person and giving them to another, but we also use medication to suppress the immune response to prevent rejection. It’s really an amazing concept.” Throughout his practice in surgery, he is still amazed by the incredible people who make the altruistic decision to donate organs in order to save the life of another in need. Robert further explains, “In the field of transplantation, over 300,000 times a year in the United States, a grieving family will donate organs to help someone or several people that they’ve never met. I think that’s such a pure and fantastic sign that humanity is alive and well and I wanted to be apart of that.”
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