Jonathan L Halperin, MD Email Jonathan Halperin

Jonathan L. Halperin, M.D., is the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Director of Clinical Cardiology Services in the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. Educated at Columbia University and Boston University School of Medicine, Dr. Halperin joined the Mount Sinai faculty in 1980. He played a key role in the formation of the Cardiovascular Institute, one of the nation's leading centers for integrated cardiovascular research, education and patient care, and has served as Associate Director since its inception. He was instrumental in the evolution of the Joseph H. Hazen cardiology clinics as a model of ambulatory care, preventive medicine and professional education, and the Cardiac Care Center, which integrates and unifies inpatient cardiovascular services. He serves as Director of Mount Sinai's Urban Community Cardiology Fellowship Program, an educational initiative linked with Mount Sinai's principal municipal hospital affiliate, the City Hospital Center at Elmhurst, Queens, serving one of the nation's most ethnically diverse populations. On the 150 th Anniversary of The Mount Sinai Hospital in 2002, Dr. Halperin was the recipient of the Jacobi Medallion, awarded by the alumni in recognition of distinguished achievement in the field of medicine and extraordinary service to the institution.

Widely recognized as an academic clinician, Dr. Halperin has served as a role model for resident and fellow trainees in internal medicine and cardiology and been the recipient of two of Mount Sinai's most distinguished teaching awards, the Simon Dack Award, presented by the Fellows of the Division of Cardiology and the Solomon R. Berson Award, presented by the House Staff of the Department of Medicine. His skills as an educator were crystallized with the publication of BYPASS (Times Books-Random House, 1986), critically acclaimed as the most comprehensive treatment of the subject of coronary artery bypass graft surgery -- addressed to the layman but suitable for medical professionals as well. He has been identified repeatedly in both regional and national publications for providing high quality patient care, and engages in an active clinical practice, emphasizing traditional bedside skills and judicious application of modern cardiovascular technology. He is Past-President of the Society for Vascular Medicine and Biology and the New York City Affiliate of the American Heart Association. Dr. Halperin serves on numerous consensus and writing panels that issue clinical practice guidelines for management of patients with various cardiovascular disorders, including atrial fibrillation, peripheral arterial disease, cerebrovascular disease and stroke, and is a member of the ACC/AHA Task Force on Practice Guidelines.

The son of a physician, Dr. Halperin has maintained a stream of clinical investigation, beginning with studies of cardiovascular hemodynamics that contributed to the development of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition for patients with chronic congestive heart failure and studies of regional circulation that impact the management of patients with Raynaud's Disease, mitral valve disease, and intermittent claudication. He was the principal cardiologist responsible for the design and execution of the Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation (SPAF) clinical trials, which received over $25 million in grant support from the National Institutes of Health. These multicenter studies, which involved 3,600 patients and over 100 investigators, helped develop antithrombotic strategies to prevent stroke among the estimated 2.5 million Americans with atrial fibrillation. Hailed as the most important advance in medical stroke prevention over that decade, the results of this research prevent tens of thousands of strokes each year, saving hundreds of millions of dollars in the cost of stroke care, and an inestimable toll in human terms. Subsequently, he directed the SPORTIF clinical trials, which evaluated the first oral direct thrombin inhibitor for prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. These international trials, involving over 7,000 patients randomized at over 700 clinical centers, in 25 nations, represented the most aggressive effort ever mounted against embolic stroke and tested the first new oral anticoagulant in over half a century. The results were cited by the American Heart Association as among the most important research advances of the year. He is currently engaged in a number of clinical trials aimed at developing improved therapeutic agents for prevention of ischemic events in an array of cardiovascular disease states.

Dr. Halperin and his wife, Dr. Michelle Copeland, Assistant Professor of Surgery and a member of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Mount Sinai, reside in Manhattan. Their son, Robert, and daughter, Libby, are also physicians.

Dr. Halperin discusses cardiovascular health for American Heart Month in The Daily Newsfeature The Daily Check Up. View the PDF.