Gary Raff, MD
Board Member
2023–present

“As a member of Heart to Heart’s board, I feel that I can contribute to the mission of the organization in a more substantial way and increase the impact we can have on developing cardiac centers in areas of need around the world.”

Gary Raff, MD is Chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery at UC Davis Medical Center (UCDMC) in Sacramento, CA. He trained in congenital heart surgery at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia before moving to California to help establish a children’s heart center at UCDMC. 

Dr. Raff is a longtime Heart to Heartnik who became involved with the organization about a decade after its founding. He was recruited to join Heart to Heart as a volunteer pediatric cardiac surgeon to lead the development of our second self-sustaining children’s heart program in Russia. Under Dr. Raff’s leadership, our partner site in Samara, located on the Volga River, became the go-to center in the second most populous district of the country with a population of over 33 million. Dr. Raff delivered big. He led six Heart to Heart teams to the Samara Regional Cardiac Center over the course of six years, methodically implementing a training program to advance the practice of each cardiac subspecialty. Skilled in teaching, mentorship, and strategic program development and management, a hallmark of Dr. Raff’s approach – and key to his success – is teamwide training and team building. The result of his work in Samara: patient volume more than tripled and the proportion of infant and newborn open heart patients dramatically increased. In addition to introducing newborn surgery and increasing the complexity of open heart cases, he and his Heart to Heart colleagues provided stepwise guidance to help establish the staffing pattern and protocols for Samara’s first ever six-bed stand-alone pediatric cardiac intensive care unit.

Dr. Raff has subsequently served as a volunteer with Heart to Heart at our partner sites in Tomsk and Rostov-on-Don, Russia, as well as in Torreon, Mexico, for a total of 10 Heart to Heart cardiac training missions! 

Dr. Raff is an accomplished surgeon and leader – we are so grateful to have him as a part of our governing board!