Who

A renowned cardiologist and the former president of the American Heart Association, Fuster heads up Mount Sinai Heart and serves as a professor of medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Backstory

A native of Spain, Fuster emigrated to the U.S. in the '70s to complete his residency at Minnesota's Mayo Clinic. In 1981, he joined Mount Sinai as head of the cardiology department, leaving in 1991 to teach at Harvard Medical School and serve as chief of cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Fuster returned to Mount Sinai in 1994 to serve as director of the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute. Today he presides over one of the city's most prominent heart programs.

Of note

The author of more than 400 articles and the editor of two major medical textbooks—The Heart and Atherothrombosis and Coronary Artery Disease—Fuster still sees patients such as Rudy Giuliani. (It was Fuster who issued Giuliani's clean bill-of-health during his ill-fated bid for the presidency.) But he spends just as much of his time overseeing the prestigious center, luring star doctors to the fold (such as David Adams), and glad-handing potential donors. A consummate fundraiser, Fuster has roped in millions from the likes of Michael Wiener (the founder of Infinity Broadcasting) and financier Henry Kravis, who donated $15 million in 2002 to establish the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health.

On the side

Fuster is past president of the American Heart Association and currently serves as president of the World Heart Federation.

Personal

He and his wife, Maria Fuster, have two grown children, Pablo and Sylvia. The couple lives on East 75th Street.