Valentín Fuster Carulla Prince of Asturias Award for Technical & Scientific Research 1996

Valentín Fuster (Barcelona, Spain, 1943 - ) graduated in the Faculty of Medicine of Barcelona in 1967, taking his doctorate a few years later. In the seventies he moved to the United States where he continued his studies. He was lecturer of Medicine and cardiovascular illnesses in the Mayo Medical School in Minnesota, in the Mount Sinai Hospital Medical School in New York and, from 1991 until 1994 he was the professor of Medicine in Harvard Medical School in Boston, the latter year hailing his appointment to the post of Director of the Institute of Cardiology of the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, where he was also to become the vice president of the department of Medicine. He is head of the Scientific Advisory Committee at the Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC), with headquarters in Madrid, and has presided over the World Heart Federation. Since 2004 he is the editor-in-chief of Nature Clinical Practice Cardiovascular Medicine, which is published under the brand name of prestigious Nature magazine, 2007 Prince of Asturias Award Laureate for Communication and Humanities.

The contributions to cardiovascular medicine made by Doctor Fuster have had an enormous impact on the improvement in the treatment of patients with heart complaints. Perhaps most acclaimed has been his explanation of the pathogeny in acute coronary syndromes -acute coronary thrombosis and unstable angina-, making a tremendous contribution on a worldwide scale to the specialities of cardiology and haematology. He maintains a deep interest in aiding the diffusion of science in our country and is the author of a great number of books on his work and research.

Moreover, starting this year, Dr. Fuster assumes the responsibility of managing cardiological research in the United States, heading the Washington National Health Institute. This implies the attainment of the maximum responsibility in the field of American medical research, something which he has achieved on his own merits.

He has, among many other awards and distinctions, the "Guntzig" from the European Society of Cardiology (1992), the prize for Scientific Distinction of the American College of Cardiology (1993) and the "Lewis A. Conner" Cardiovascular Research award (1993).