Robert S.D. Higgins, MD, MSHA, serves as the president and chief academic officer of Rush University and chief academic officer, senior vice president of Rush. He began these roles in in April 2024.
As president and chief academic officer, Higgins is responsible for the whole of Rush University with an innovative vision on advancing and elevating Rush as a nationally renowned leader in healthcare education and research. He works to uphold the mission of Rush University including the organization’s commitment to gender equity and diversity; its teaching mission; and the growth of basic, clinical and translational research.
As chief academic officer and senior vice president of Rush, Higgins leads academic and clinical integration across Rush, ensuring alignment of clinical programs with the University and clinical locations.
Higgins returns to Rush from Mass General Brigham in Massachusetts where he served as executive vice president as well as president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital. At Brigham and Women’s Hospital, he was responsible for the vitality and success of the clinical, academic and educational mission of the Brigham in support of patients locally and across the globe.
A leader in heart and lung transplantation, minimally invasive cardiac surgery and mechanical circulatory support, Higgins has also been recognized nationally and internationally for his research in health policy and access to care; improving outcomes among heart failure and cardiac surgery patients; racial disparities in post-transplant outcomes; and the mechanism of cell injury in failing hearts.
From 2003 to 2010, Higgins served as the Mary and John Bent Professor and chair of the Department of Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgery at Rush. He was also responsible for the Thoracic Surgery Residency Program within Rush Medical College.
Before joining Mass General Brigham, Higgins was director of the Department of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief and William Stewart Halsted Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
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.