About the Authors
Hisashi Nikaidoh, MD
Hisashi Nikaidoh, MD (in blue suit) at his son
Hitoshi Nikaidoh's 2003 graduation from medical school. Also shown are Kimi, Ken, and Lynn Nikaidoh, and Eileen Zuttermeister "Grandma Z" (l. to r.)
Hisashi Nikaidoh, MD is an internationally known pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon. Currently at Cook Children’s Heart Center in Fort Worth, Texas, Dr. Nikaidoh is the developer of the innovative surgical procedure that carries his name.
Dr. Nikaidoh earned his medical degree from The University of Tokyo in 1959 and trained at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City; Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago; and Case Western Reserve University Hospital, Cleveland. He served in Dallas as Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Chief of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery at Children’s Medical Center. He served in Tulsa, OK as Medical Director of Children's Hospital at St. Francis. He has also served on multiple mission trips, domestic and abroad.
Dr. Nikaidoh is known for his life-long dedication to the care of children, for which he received the Children’s Miracle Achievement Award in 2011.
In 2003, Dr. Nikaidoh lost his son Toshi in a gruesome accident just six weeks after his graduation from medical school. Trying to find some way to move forward, in addition to the support he had from his faith, he started
thinking about a few women he knew who had each lost a child. He wondered what they might know about this grief journey that could possibly help him. It took him some time to gather the courage to talk to them about such a personal topic, but when he did, their stories of grief and healing inspired him.
To share what he had learned from them, and in the hopes he could help others, he wrote the book Healing Hearts: A Leading Pediatric Heart Surgeon Learns About the Journey from Grief to Life From These Inspiring Mothers of His Lost Patients with his coauthor Janis Leibs Dworkis. Realizing that the grief journey of a man could be very different than that of a woman, he felt he also needed to give men a voice. What could we learn from them? In Hope Beyond Darkness, twelve fathers share their stories of moving through grief toward healing.
Janis Leibs Dworkis
Atali Samuel
Janis Leibs Dworkis is a writer and book developer who collaborated with Hisashi Nikaidoh, MD on his first book, Healing Hearts: A Leading Pediatric Heart Surgeon Learns About the Journey from Grief to Life From These Inspiring Mothers of His Lost Patients, as well as Hope Beyond Darkness. She has worked with more than ten authors to write and produce almost two dozen books. She also has ten years experience as a freelance writer for The Dallas Morning News and other publications, with a total of 250 newspaper and magazine articles to her credit.