Upon retirement, a Navy captain charts a course expanding physician training in eastern North Carolina

For Dr. Jason Higginson, the appeal of military service was never about rank and ribbons. It was about purpose — the same principle that drives the mission of East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine, where he now serves as executive dean.

Commander Jason Higginson, MD, delivering medical care during Operation Pacific Partnership, the Navy’s largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster response mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific, in 2016. (Courtesy of Jason Higginson)

On Dec. 1, Higginson will retire as a U.S. Navy captain after a 26-year career split evenly between active duty and reserve service. One of the highest-ranking military officers in the region is hanging up his dress whites at a pivotal moment for the medical school following a historic infusion of state funding poised to reimagine the institution and expand its reach across eastern North Carolina.

Higginson’s Navy years were marked by extremes — delivering critical care in remote villages, commanding medical operations for detainees at Guantánamo Bay, and leading teams aboard hospital ships during humanitarian missions.

“The most challenging experience of my Navy career,” came in 2020, he said, when, early in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, he oversaw medical treatment of Guantánamo Bay detainees.

“There was a New York Times beat writer who paid attention to everything you do. There were eyes and opinions in every direction — scrutiny on all sides,” he said, and not just from civilian media but high-ranking officials in the Department of Defense and U.S. Congress.

Higginson’s decorations tell part of the story: the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, a string of commendations. But his path to medicine began far from the corridors of power. Raised on a ranch in northern Los Angeles County, the son of a probation officer and a real estate agent, he dreamed of becoming a veterinarian.

One Physician Can Make a Difference

To pay for college, he lived and worked in a Hollywood shelter for homeless teens — many lured west by the promise of stardom, only to find hardship. It was his job to lead them in their nightly chores, put them to bed, get them up in the morning and manage the physical structure. Escorting them to a children’s hospital for care fell to him, and it was there he discovered the precision and wonder of pediatric medicine.

Lieutenant Commander Jason Higginson, MD, during Operation Continuing Promise in Guatemala in 2011. U.S. military medical professionals worked alongside partner nation clinicians to provide direct patient care and technical expertise in community clinics to improve medical readiness and strengthen partnerships. (Courtesy of Jason Higginson)

After earning his medical degree from UCLA in 1999, he moved on to residency at the University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital-Oakland, where he grew interested in military service after hearing of the training and adventures his older sister experienced as a Navy helicopter pilot.

Higginson was commissioned a Navy lieutenant. His early assignments took him to Naval Hospital Lemoore and Walter Reed, followed by deployments aboard the USS Iwo Jima and the USNS Mercy for humanitarian missions in Latin America and the Pacific. Leadership roles in medical ethics, education, and operational medicine followed, culminating in senior posts with Marine Forces Reserve and Joint Task Force Guantánamo.

His personal life intertwined with service. At Officer Indoctrination School in Newport, Rhode Island, he met Amanda, now his wife — a pediatrician and associate dean at Brody. “She was assigned naval history,” he said, and “I was the social chair.”

By 2012, Higginson was weighing offers from Stanford and Miami when ECU began recruiting him. Initially, he saw the interview as practice for the big leagues — he had no intention of accepting a position. Then he met Dr. Ron Perkin, the pediatrics chair.

The pay was the lowest of any offer, but the mission was the richest.

“There are a lot of underserved people here,” Higginson says. “One physician can make a difference.”

Formation of a Leader

Commander Jason Higginson, MD, in Twentynine Palms, California for Operation Integrated Training Exercise in 2017, a live-fire exercise. Beside him is Commander Tim Weiner, a former pediatric surgeon and division chief at Maynard Children’s Hospital in Greenville. (Courtesy of Jason Higginson)

That ethos — a version of ECU’s motto, servire, to serve — echoes the values that drew him to the Navy. Today, as chief health officer for ECU Health and a practicing neonatologist at Maynard Children’s Hospital, Higginson is preparing for a new chapter.

With a major building project and ambitious programs on the horizon, he says, “It’s one of the reasons I’m retiring. My job as executive dean is becoming more consuming, and I’m committed to growing this school because its mission matters.”

He also has command of the institution. Among the challenges the military prepares a person for is leading.

“They take it seriously, and they have a lot of schools for it. I went to the Naval War College. I went to the Joint War Fighting school. They produce a product, which is leaders. They teach you how to manage people, to eliminate bias and favoritism, to implement processes that are consistent and coherent. I would not be executive dean without that formation.”

Dr. Amanda Higginson said it’s no different at home.

“It’s such an integral part of who he is, not only as a leader, but also a husband, father and friend and has really informed his service mentality and dedication to helping others on both a societal and individual level,” she said. “I am so proud of his 26 years of service and am incredibly thankful for all the opportunities the Navy gave us.”

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