Jack Higgins, MD
Dr. Jack Higgins is Founder, President & Chief Medical Officer of the nonprofit Global Telehealth Network (GTN).
GTN was founded on the belief that health care is a human right, and that no one should be denied access to health care because of their location or ability to pay. GTN’s volunteer physicians and psychologists offer free, online video telehealth consultations for patients of doctors and nurses who work in medically underserved areas in the U.S. and around the world.
GTN is collaborating with IEEE Smart Village to improve access to healthcare through pilot projects in three hospitals, four clinics and two schools in Kenya and Uganda. At each site, installing solar power systems and establishing Internet access will allow doctors and nurses in rural areas to obtain online consultations through GTN when they encounter patients with COVID-19 or other complex medical or mental health problems. That infrastructure will also allow access to online resources for education and economic development.
Dr. Higgins also serves as President of RotaCare Bay Area, a nonprofit organization that operates 10 free clinics. RotaCare’s volunteer physicians and nurses provide free healthcare for people who are uninsured and unable to pay.
He is also Vice-President of Child Health and AIDS Prevention (CHAP), a nonprofit that previously focused on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and that now addresses additional aspects of maternal and child health in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Dr. Higgins earned his B.S. and M.D. degrees at Michigan State University, followed by a three-year Family Medicine residency in Saginaw, Michigan. During his residency he co-founded Hospice of Saginaw, which was the seventh hospice in the U.S.
