Fuster was born in
Barcelona, Spain. He is the son of a
psychiatrist, and his brother is a
neuroscientist. In Spain he competed in tennis at a national level.
Pedro Farreras Valentí, the author of the widely used Spanish textbook
Farreras-Rozman Internal Medicine, encouraged Fuster to study cardiology. Fuster graduated first in his class with an MD from
University of Barcelona in 1967. He completed an internship at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, then attended
University of Edinburgh Medical School for a PhD on the role of
platelets in
myocardial infarction. Fuster served as a Research Fellow in Cardiology at the
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh from 1968 to 1971 He returned to Mount Sinai in 1994 as Director of the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and in 2006 named the Director of Mount Sinai Heart, and in 2022, he was appointed president. and is now the General Director of the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) in
Madrid, (Spain). Fuster was elected
editor-in-chief at the
Journal of the American College of Cardiology in 2014. Former positions include 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. He has thirty-four university Honorary Doctorates. He was the inspiration for a character on the Spanish version of
Sesame Street named "Valentin Ruster" that educated children in healthier lifestyles through exercise and healthy diet.
Honors and awards • 1992 Andreas Gruntzig Award of the International Society of Interventionalists (Paris) • 1993 Distinguished Scientist Award, American College of Cardiology • 1996 Principe de Asturias Award of Science and Technology, Fundacion Principe de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain • 2001 James B. Herrick Award, Council of Clinical Cardiology of the American Heart Association • 2005 2009 Distinguished Researcher Award, Interamerican Society of Cardiology • 2008 Polzer Prize, European Academy of Science and Arts • 2011
The LeFoulon Delalande Grand Prize, Institute of France, Paris, France • 2012 AHA Research Achievement Award, Los Angeles, CA • 2014 Created Marquess of Fuster in the
Spanish nobility by King
Juan Carlos I. • 2015 Grand Cross of the
Civil Order of Health • 2017 Grand Cross of the
Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise • 2020
Prince Mahidol Award in Medicine ==Scientific investigator==