The Mount Sinai Health System today announced that the hospital’s leading cardiology service, formerly known as Mount Sinai Heart, will be renamed “Mount Sinai Faster Heart Hospital.” The renaming honors Valentin Faster, M.D., Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital and Director of Faster Heart Hospital, and recognizes the immeasurable impact he has had and continues to have on the field of cardiology and his leadership at Mount Sinai.
Over the past 25 years, Dr. Fuster has transformed Mount Sinai’s cardiac services into one of the world’s leading cardiovascular disease centers, providing exceptional, compassionate care for heart patients, new and innovative treatments for cardiovascular disease, and regional and global health programs to combat heart disease. His legacy lives on at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital.
“I am grateful for this honor and proud of my life’s work at Mount Sinai,” said Dr. Fuster, “and I can think of nothing more rewarding than contributing to the understanding, prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, the world’s deadliest disease.”
“While our faculty has made great strides in these efforts, there is still work to be done to meet the challenge of creating a global ‘culture of health’ that eliminates deadly cardiovascular disease,” adds Dr. Fuster. “We must accelerate the momentum we’ve already established in this effort to advance knowledge and practice for current and future generations of clinicians and researchers. I am proud of what Mount Sinai Heart has accomplished and look forward to the future as we are poised to contribute to even greater accomplishments.”
Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital will continue to drive innovation in cardiovascular basic, clinical and translational research, prioritize the patient experience, recruit physician-scientists at the forefront of cardiology and educate the next generation of physicians to advance the level of care for cardiac patients.
The project also continues and expands Dr. Fuster’s decades of research into the biological, socioeconomic and environmental mechanisms that influence heart disease. Dr. Fuster has pioneered specialized health education initiatives in Harlem and other parts of New York City, studying the most effective ways to instill healthy habits in children at an early age, thereby reducing preventable heart disease and risk factors in the next generation.
Dr. Fuster also helped develop the cardiovascular “polypill,” which combines three drugs normally taken separately into one pill to effectively prevent secondary adverse cardiovascular events in people who have experienced a heart attack. Dr. Fuster and his team have shown that the polypill reduces cardiovascular mortality in this population by 33 percent. The drug was recently included on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) list of essential medicines and is awaiting Food and Drug Administration approval in the United States.
Under Dr. Fuster’s leadership, Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked number one in New York and number four in the world. Newsweek It is listed on the list of “World’s Best Specialty Hospitals.” Mount Sinai Hospital is also number one in New York for cardiology, cardiac surgery, and vascular surgery. U.S. News & World Report®.
His research into the origins of cardiovascular events, which contributed to improved treatment for heart attack patients, earned him the Prince of Asturias Award in 1996, the highest international award given by his native Spain. In June 2011, he received the Grand Prix de la Institut de France Sciences Award for his translational research into atherosclerotic thrombosis. More recently, he received the Prince Mahidol Award from Thailand for his lifetime contributions to the field of medicine. In 2022, the American College of Cardiology will establish the Valentin Fuster Award in Science and Innovation, to be awarded to one physician annually for the next 15 years.
Dr. Fuster has also received the highest research awards from the four major cardiovascular organizations: the American Heart Association (Gold Medal and Research Achievement Award), the American College of Cardiology (Living Legend and Lifetime Achievement Award), the European Society of Cardiology (Gold Medal), and the Inter-American Society of Cardiology (Research Achievement Award). In May 2014, King Juan Carlos I of Spain bestowed the title of Marquis on Dr. Fuster in recognition of his “outstanding and tireless research efforts and educational outreach activities.”
“Dr. Valentin Fuster is a leading humanitarian and global advocate for cardiovascular health. His dedication to excellence in research and education and fostering an environment of unparalleled clinical excellence embodies all that we stand for at Mount Sinai and as health care providers,” said Kenneth L. Davis, M.D., chief executive officer of the Mount Sinai Health System.
“Dr. Fuster’s dedication to interdisciplinary translational research established Mount Sinai’s world-leading reputation in cardiovascular care. His groundbreaking contributions in the field have changed the nature of patient care far beyond the walls of Mount Sinai. His legacy is one that should be upheld and emulated at any innovative institution. We are honored to have him as our greatest ambassador, now and for many years to come,” said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Ann and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the Mount Sinai Health System.
“This renaming in honor of Dr. Fuster is an exciting milestone in the evolution of cardiovascular care at Mount Sinai,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, president of Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital and the Valentin Fuster Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine. “Our new name, Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital, not only recognizes Dr. Fuster’s unique legacy, it also communicates to the world that we are a premier destination for cardiovascular care and innovation.”
Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital is one of the top four hospitals in the world for cardiology/cardiac surgery.
Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital is ranked #1 in New York and #4 in the world. Newsweek Mount Sinai Hospital, “the best specialty hospital in the world,” is also ranked number one in New York for cardiology, cardiac surgery and vascular surgery. U.S. News & World Report®.
We are part of the Mount Sinai Health System, the largest academic health system in New York City, with eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and an extensive network of outpatient clinics throughout the New York metropolitan area. We advance medicine and health through unparalleled education, translational research, and discovery, providing the safest, highest quality, most accessible, equitable, and best value of any health system in the nation. Our health system includes approximately 7,400 primary and specialty care physicians, 13 joint venture ambulatory surgery centers across the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida, and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. Hospitals within our system are consistently ranked by: Newsweek“World’s Best Smart Hospital” US News & World ReportMount Sinai Hospital has been named one of ‘s® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” US News & World ReportThe hospital has been named to Mount Sinai’s “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2023-2024. For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook. twitter And YouTube.
