Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD Receives Distinguished Teacher Award from American College of Cardiology
Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, an international pioneer in cardiovascular medicine, is the first recipient of the American College of Cardiology’s Distinguished Teacher Award.
Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, an international pioneer in cardiovascular medicine, is the first recipient of the American College of Cardiology’s Distinguished Teacher Award. Dr. Fuster serves The Mount Sinai Medical Center as Director of Mount Sinai Heart, the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health. He is the Richard Gorlin, MD/Heart Research Foundation Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and is also the President of Science of the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) in Madrid, Spain. Dr. Fuster was selected by the Awards Committee and Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology to receive this prestigious honor. He received this award on Monday, March 30, 2009 at the Convocation ceremony of the College’s 58th Annual Scientific Session in Orlando, Florida.
The Distinguished Teacher Award is given to the individual who has demonstrated innovative, outstanding teaching characteristics and compassionate qualities, and because of these attributes, has made major contributions to the field of cardiovascular medicine on a national and international level.
Among the seemingly countless positions of distinction that he holds are: Past President of the American Heart Association and Immediate Past President of the World Heart Federation. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, where he serves as Chair of the committee on Preventing the Global Epidemic of Cardiovascular Disease, a former member of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Advisory Council, and former Chairman of the Fellowship Training Directors Program of the American College of Cardiology. Twenty-four distinguished universities throughout the world have granted him Doctor Honoris Causa.
He has published more than 750 articles on the subjects of coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis and thrombosis, and he has become the lead Editor of two major textbooks on cardiology, 'The Heart' (previously edited by Dr. J. Willis Hurst) and "Atherothrombosis and Coronary Artery Disease." Dr. Fuster has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Nature journal that focuses on cardiovascular medicine (Nature Reviews, Cardiology, April 2009) and he is the Editor of the new "AHA Guidelines and Scientific Statements Handbook."
Dr. Fuster is the only cardiologist to receive the two highest gold medal awards and all four major research awards from the four major cardiovascular organizations: The Distinguished Researcher Award (Interamerican Society of Cardiology, 2005 and 2009) Andreas Gruntzig Scientific Award and Gold Medal Award (European Society of Cardiology, 1992 and 2007, respectively) Gold Medal Award and Distinguished Scientist (American Heart Association, 2001 and 2003, respectively) and the Distinguished Scientist Award (American College of Cardiology, 1993).
In addition, he has received the Lewis A. Conner Memorial Award by the American Heart Association, the James B. Herrick Achievement Award from the Council of Clinical Cardiology of the American Heart Association, and the 1996 Principe de Asturias Award of Science and Technology, the highest award given to Spanish-speaking scientists. In 2008, Dr. Fuster received the Kurt Polzer Cardiovascular Award from the European Academy of Science and Arts.
After receiving his medical degree from Barcelona University and completing an internship at Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, Dr. Fuster spent several years at the Mayo Clinic, first as a resident and later as Professor of Medicine and Consultant in Cardiology. In 1981, he came to 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 the Massachusetts General Hospital. He returned to Mount Sinai in 1994 as Director of the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and, most recently, he has been named the Director of Mount Sinai Heart.
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