Valentin Fuster

Valentí Fuster is a Spaniard (Catalan-American) cardiologist – the only cardiologist to receive all four major research awards from the world's four major cardiovascular organizations.

Fuster made news in 2006 when he managed a patient who underwent successful combined heart and lung transplant, which New York Magazine named one of the year’s "11 medical marvels".

Biography

Fuster was born in Cardona, (Catalonia) after the end of the Spanish Civil War. His early aptitude for tennis let him to compete at a national level, and it was through tennis that he met his future mentor – Pedro Farreras, the author of the standard Spanish textbook of medicine. After Farreras suffered a heart attack at age 45, he encouraged Fuster to study cardiology.

Fuster pursued his degree at the University of Barcelona, graduating first in his class. His PhD (on the role of platelets in myocardial infarction) was completed at Edinburgh university.

Fuster then spent several years in residency at the Mayo Clinic, later becoming Professor of Medicine and Consultant in Cardiology. In 1981, he joined the Mount Sinai School of Medicine as head of Cardiology. From 1991 to 1994, he was Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief of Cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

In 1994 he returned to Mount Sinai to become Director of the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute. He is currently the Director of Mount Sinai Heart.

He has received research awards from the Interamerican Society of Cardiology (Distinguished Researcher Award, 2005), the American Heart Association (Distinguished Scientist, 2003), the European Society of Cardiology (Andreas Gruntzig Scientific Award, 1992), and the American College of Cardiology (Distinguished Scientist Award, 1993).

Positions and distinctions

• The Mount Sinai Medical Center as Director of Mount Sinai Heart
• The Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute
• The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health.
• The Richard Gorlin, MD/Heart Research Foundation Professor, Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
• Past President of the American Heart Association
• Past President of the World Heart Federation
• Member, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences
• Past member, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Advisory Council
• Former Chairman, the Fellowship Training Directors Program of the American College of Cardiology
• Member, Scientific Advisory Board of Vasogen, Inc.
• General Director of the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) in Madrid, Spain.

Honors and awards

• 2008 Libin/AHFMR Prize for Excellence in Cardiovascular Research
• Interamerican Society of Cardiology (Distinguished Researcher Award, 2005)
• Honoris causa granted from seventeen universities
• Recipient of three ongoing grants from the National Institutes of Health
• The Lewis A. Conner Memorial Award by the American Heart Association
• The James B. Herrick Achievement Award from the Council of Clinical Cardiology
• The 1996 Principe de Asturias Award of Science and Technology (Spain's highest scientific award)
• The Distinguished Service Award from the American College of Cardiology
• The Gold Heart Award from the American Heart Association (its highest award)
• The Gold Medal of the European Society of Cardiology (Vienna, 2007)
• The 2008 Kurt Polzer Cardiovascular Award from the European Academy of Sciences and Arts

Publications

Partial list:

• Lead Editor (with Ira S. Nash) of two major textbooks on cardiology, The Heart (previously edited by Dr. J. Willis Hurst) (ISBN 0071478868) and Atherothrombosis and Coronary Artery Disease (with Drs. Eric Topol and Elizabeth Nabel) (ISBN 0781735831).
• Editor-in-Chief of the Nature Journal focusing on cardiovascular medicine.
• Ibanez B, Vilahur G, Cimmino G, Speidl WS, Pinero A, Choi BG, Zafar MU, Santos-Gallego CG, Krause B, Badimon L, Fuster V, Badimon JJ. Rapid change in plaque size, composition, and molecular footprint after recombinant apolipoprotein A-I Milano (ETC-216) administration: magnetic resonance imaging study in an experimental model of atherosclerosis. Journal of the American College of Cardiology PMID 18342230
• Mclaughlin M, Fuster V. Three mechanisms for coronary artery disease progression; insights into future management. Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine 1995; 62(4): 265-274. PMID 7565849
• Galende E, Karakikes I, Edelmann L, Desnick RJ, Kerenyi T, Khoueiry G, Lafferty J, McGinn JT, Brodman M, Fuster V, Hajjar RJ, Polgar K. Amniotic Fluid Cells Are More Efficiently Reprogrammed to Pluripotency Than Adult Cells. Cloning Stem Cells. 2009 Dec 17. PMID 20017623.
• Goldbarg SH, Elmariah S, Miller MA, Fuster V. Insights into Degenerative Aortic Valve Disease. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2007 PMID 17888836
• Sanz J, Moreno PR, Fuster V. The year in atherothrombosis. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2008 PMID 17448377
• Choi BG, Vilahur G, Zafar MU, Cardoso L, Yadegar D, Ibanez B, Tunstead J, Viles-Gonzalez JF, Schaffler MB, Fuster V, Badimon JJ. Selective estrogen receptor modulation influences atherosclerotic plaque composition in a rabbit menopause model. Artherosclerosis. 2008 PMID 18367192
• Farkouh ME, Dangas G, Leon MB, Smith C, Nesto R, Buse JB, Cohen DJ, Mahoney E, Sleeper L, King S 3rd, Domanski M, McKinlay S, Fuster V. Design of the Future Revascularization Evaluation in patients with Diabetes mellitus: Optimal management of Multivessel disease (FREEDOM) Trial. American heart journal, 2008 PMID 18215589
• Beller GA, Bonow RO, Fuster V; ACCF 2008 Recommendations for Training in Adult Cardiovascular Medicine Core Cardiology Training (COCATS 3) (revision of the 2002 COCATS Training Statement). American College of Cardiology Foundation; American Heart Association; American College of Physicians Task Force on Clinical Competence and Training. 2008 PMID 18206749
• Love BA, Parness IA, Fuster V. Membranous septal aneurysm causing right ventricular outflow tract obstruction. Clin Cardiol. 2009 Dec;32(12):E87. No abstract available. PMID 20014190
• Sanz G, Fuster V. The Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Center: a new phase. Revista espanola de cardiologia PMID 18221683
• Hirsh J, Fuster V, Ansell J, Halperin JL; American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Foundation. American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Foundation guide to warfarin therapy. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2003 May 7;41(9):1633-52. PMID 12742309

External links

• Mount Sinai Hospital homepage
• Dr. Fuster on Charlie Rose
• Clinton Global Initiative
• Valentin Fuster quotes on ThinkExist
• Dr. Fuster on Complementary Medicine.TV