Dr. Fuster serves Mount Sinai as Director of both the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health. He is also the Richard Gorlin, MD/Heart Research Foundation Professor. 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.
Dr. Fuster is Past President of the American Heart Association, President of the World Heart Federation, a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, 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.
Dr. Fuster is the recipient of three major ongoing NIH grants. He has published more than 400 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" (with Dr. Eric Topol and Dr. Elizabeth Nabel). He contributed first hand to the launching of the new Forum for Young Investigators of the American Heart Association.
Thirteen distinguished universities throughout the world have granted him honoris causa. He has also received the Andreas Gruntzig Scientific Award of the European Society of Cardiology, the Lewis A. Conner Memorial Award for scientific accomplishments by the American Heart Association, and the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American College of Cardiology. Prince Felipe of the Asturias awarded Dr. Fuster the 1996 Principe de Asturias Award of Science and Technology, the highest award given to Spanish-speaking scientists. In 2001, Dr. Fuster received the James B. Herrick Achievement Award from the Council of Clinical Cardiology of the American Heart Association. Most recently, he was selected as a Distinguished Scientist of the American Heart Association, one of the highest awards given by the Association, presented to only 15 scientists for their work in cardiovascular research over the last few years. Following an exhaustive search, Dr. Fuster has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of a new Nature journal that focuses on cardiovascular medicine. The first issue of the monthly publication was published in November 2004.