Valentin Fuster


Valentín Fuster Carulla is a Spanish-American cardiologist.
He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, past President of the American Heart Association, past President of the World Heart Federation, and has been a member of the US National Academy of Medicine.
In the United States, Fuster serves as Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital, and Director of the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute, the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health, and the Richard Gorlin, MD/Heart Research Foundation Professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
In his native Spain, he serves as the General Director of the National Centre for Cardiovascular Research in Madrid, and also chairs an international project, the SHE Foundation.

Life and career

Fuster serves as physician-in-chief and Director of Mount Sinai Heart, the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and the Marie-Josee and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health. He is also the Richard Gorlin, MD/Heart Research Foundation Professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Fuster was the President of Science, and is now the General Director of the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III in Madrid,.
Fuster took over as editor-in-chief at the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in 2014. Among the positions of distinction that he holds are past President of the American Heart Association, past President of the World Heart Federation, 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, 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. Thirty universities throughout the world have granted him Honorary Doctorate Degrees.,
Fuster was born in Barcelona, Spain 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 with an MD in 1967, first in his class. He then completed an internship at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona. Encouraged by his tutor, he then went to the University of Edinburgh Medical School for his PhD on the role of platelets in myocardial infarction.
While completing his PhD in Edinburgh, Fuster served as a Research Fellow in Cardiology at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh from 1968 to 1971,. After completing his PhD in 1971 from the University of Edinburgh Medical School, 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 in 2006, he was named the Director of Mount Sinai Heart.

Positions and distinctions

Research focus and recognition

Fuster is the recipient of two major ongoing NIH grants. He has published more than 900 articles on the subjects of coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis and thrombosis, and he has been the lead editor of two textbooks on cardiology, "The Heart" and "Atherothrombosis and Coronary Artery Disease". Fuster is a former editor-in-chief of Nature Reviews Cardiology and is the editor of the "AHA Guidelines and Scientific Statements Handbook", which compiles all the latest information.
In addition, Fuster 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. In 2008, Fuster received the Kurt Polzer Cardiovascular Award from the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 2009, he received the Distinguished Teacher Award of the American College of Cardiology and then later that year, the prestigious International Arigo Recordati Award for his Scientific Achievement in the development of Cardiovascular Imaging. Fuster received the Lefoulon Delalande Grand Prix, from the Institute of France. In March 2012, during the ACC National Meeting, Fuster was honored as one of the two American "Legends in Cardiovascular Medicine.

Complex cardiology

Fuster handles some of the most complex cases in New York City. Since 1992, Fuster has been listed among the Best Doctors in America and New York. 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".

Contributions in translational medicine

As a result of this vocation and the clear social need to promote healthy habits, Fuster has created the SHE Foundation with the aim of improving total health in the population, especially young people.

SHE foundation

"Fuster... is convinced that a change in the population's lifestyle is the only way to avoid the spread of cardiovascular diseases, which are a real epidemic and the main cause of death in the world.
"Faced with this evidence and based on the experience gained over his career, Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD promoted the creation of SHE, a non-profit foundation that, while focused on basic and clinical research, is aimed at promoting healthy habits through communication and Education of the population.
"With this goal, the SHE Foundation devotes its efforts to creating a frame of reference for what an education in health means and involves, stressing the acquirement of healthy habits from childhood in order to promote a world in which children, young people and adults have the ability to act positively towards their health."

Sesame workshop

"Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart, is the inspiration for a Muppet doctor on Barrio Sésamo: Monstruos Supersanos, the Spanish version of Sesame Street which debuted on Spain's Antena 3 just last month. The character named "Valentin Ruster" is helping to educate children to lead healthier lifestyles through exercise and healthy diet.
"Fuster serves as an international advisor on Sesame Workshop's Global Health Initiative. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death around the world, and the goal of the initiative is to measure health improvements in children and build global partnerships to address their critical health issues. In fact, many studies show that childhood obesity leads to cardiovascular disease, thru an increase in cardiovascular disease risk factors including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc. Globally, in 2010, the number of overweight children under the age of five is estimated to be over 42 million. Sesame Workshop, which has been creating specific content on healthy habits for young children and their families for almost a decade, is now exploring opportunities with Fuster to extend its initiative in the United States.
"Fuster first joined forces with Sesame Workshop in 2006 to collaborate with Plaza Sesamo, the Latin American version of Sesame Street, to promote cardiovascular health and well-being in Colombia. The series there encourages children, parents, teachers, and caregivers in making informed nutritional and lifestyle decisions based on educational television content, community outreach, and evidence-based research."

FREEDOM trial

The FREEDOM trial, involving 150 institutions around the world, is the largest funded study in diabetes and is led by Fuster. It aimed at defining the optimal revascularization strategy for diabetic patients with multivessel coronary disease. The striking benefit of surgical revascularization versus stenting represents unique breakthroughs in the cardiovascular field as presented in the 2012 AHA Scientific Sessions and simultaneously published in the NEJM.

Polypill

"The prevention of cardiovascular disease is hindered by several factors, including wide variability in the pattern of prescription among physicians, limited access to expensive drugs in emerging countries, and poor adherence to medication. The use of fixed dose drug combinations has been recommended to improve accessibility and adherence to treatment. The CNIC, working in a private-public partnership with Ferrer International, has devised a fixed dose combination for secondary prevention. The CNIC-Ferrer polypill project is led by Valentín Fuster and is coordinated by the Translational Research Platform."

Promoting cardiovascular health worldwide

This is a report released by the Institute of Medicine of The National Academy of Science, under the sponsorship of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. It was the result of deliberations of a 130-member committee of experts chaired by Fuster and made available to all governments of the world in order to initiate and/or contribute to global health policy for chronic diseases.

Promoting cardiovascular health in children

This large scale initiative was carried out in Colombia and Spain under Fuster's leadership. In Colombia, a randomized control was conducted to assess the effect in children three to six years of age of knowledge, attitude and habits regarding healthy eating and living an active lifestyle. Children in the 40-hour intervention group showed a significantly larger increase in total score compared to that in the control group. Three years later, children showed a further increase in total score. This finding will be published in the American Journal of Medicine.
The project's results have led to its expansion into about 25,000 children in Colombia and 20,000 children in Spain. In Spain's program, a new Muppet character was recently created, inspired by Fuster. The character and his storyline are aimed at educating the children of Barrio Sesame about their hearts and bodies. The two country project will be long running in order to prove that the interventions at such an early age affect adult behavior. The participants will be evaluated each year.

Promoting cardiovascular health in adults of middle-income countries

Health in adults of middle-income countries can be reflected by a pilot project directed by Fuster on the island of Granada in the Caribbean, which has a population of 100,000 people. He is assembling groups of 10 people, with a cardiovascular risk factor profile in an Alcoholics Anonymous format that uses peer pressure to help participants adopt healthier behaviors. This project is based on a successful risk factor profile pilot study carried out in nearly 3,000 Grenadians and on a recent, also successful, 10-person group study now finishing in a small town in Spain.

Promoting cardiovascular health in adults of low-income countries

Exemplified by an NIH grant awarded to Fuster as a principal investigator, the objective of this project is to address the issue of hypertension in Kenya. Hypertension is the leading global risk factor for mortality, and the global cost of sub-optimal blood pressure is estimated to be very high. The project is demonstrating the effective impact of combining the human factor and high technology. A small portion of the 100,000 population of two town districts - Turbo and Mosoriot - are being trained through automatic machines, to take the blood pressure measurement of their respective neighborhoods; the values are then registered and centralized by the use of smartphones. Hopefully, such an approach will be transferable to other cities and countries.

Research and educational AHA-FORUM

A national program developed by Fuster when he was President of the American Heart Association, having two objectives in mind: 1) To engage potential young researchers with volunteer senior investigators of the AHA, offering as such, free tutorship or mentorship; the success stories of this approach are many. 2) To reinvigorate the Junior-Senior investigator relationships through and annual meeting, the Saturday preceding the Scientific Sessions of the AHA; the yearly attendance counts in the hundreds.

Clinical and educational AHA "Fellows Society of the Greater New York"

A regional program developed by Fuster when he was President of the AHA, New York City To educate fellows or young cardiologists in training in the greater New York area - including Connecticut, New Jersey, Long Island and the five Boroughs of NYC - about American Heart Association programs and activities. 2) To provide a forum for professional interaction, problem solving and discussion of professional issues among the cardiology fellows. Such a successful program, it is now being extended to other regions of the country including Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.

Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares

The National Centre for Cardiovascular Research is a Spanish research institute. The Centre was founded in 1999 and is situated on the campus of the Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid.
The institute is supported by the Government and by a core group of the most important Spanish private companies.
Under Fuster's leadership, these last five years have been crucial in two aspects:
With Fuster as a principal investigator, is aimed: a) to discover the role of multi-modality imaging to identify the most cost-effective imaging technology for potential use in low and medium economy countries, and c) to evaluate whether subclinical disease can motivate the individual to modify his/her lifestyle. The project is successfully involving 6,000 Americans and 8,000 Europeans.

Author and editor

Books