Stan Higashino, MD
Heart to Heart Founder
(1930-1991)

After Drs. Stan Higashino and Nilas Young repaired seven-year-old Masha Senotova’s heart in Oakland in 1989, Masha remained in the hospital for many weeks. By the time she could run down the halls, literally in the pink of health, “Stan had fallen in love with the idea of going over to the Soviet Union and teaching people to take care of kids with heart defects.” Dr. Stan Higashino founded Heart to Heart in 1990 with Dr. Nilas Young and businesswoman Jo Ann McGowan to do just that.

Stan and his wife Marcia traveled on Heart to Heart’s first four missions to Leningrad. Marcia recalls, “Stan couldn’t accept the fact that if these children had been born in the U.S., they could be fixed and lead normal lives. Stan loved his work, and the Golden Rule was his constant standard.”

Stan’s vision included ensuing the addition of a cath lab to bring state-of-art medical treatment to the children of Leningrad. Thanks to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, we were able to begin realizing his dream in 1995. In 1998, the first cath lab in Russia dedicated solely to pediatric use became operational at our partnersite in St. Petersburg. Thousands of children have been diagnosed and treated at this cath lab by doctors trained by Stan and other Heart to Heart medical volunteers. 

Decades after Stan’s death, the cath lab is still an integral diagnostic tool for the children of St. Petersburg. This lasting legacy is a testament to his vision and his compassion.