Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, Named Director of Mount Sinai Heart

Will also serve as the first-ever Dr. Valentin Fuster Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine

(New York, NY – October 31, 2022) –Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, a top expert in cardiovascular medicine and interventional cardiology, has been named Director of Mount Sinai Heart. Dr. Bhatt will lead the educational, research, and clinical cardiovascular work of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System beginning Thursday, December 1. He will also serve as the Dr. Valentin Fuster Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, the first physician to hold this endowed professorship.

Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart since its founding in 2006, will become President of Mount Sinai Heart as of Sunday, January 1, 2023. “The Mount Sinai Health System will be enriched by the outstanding recruitment of Dr. Deepak Bhatt, one of the most brilliant clinicians and academicians in the cardiovascular field today,” said Dr. Fuster.

Dr. Bhatt comes to Mount Sinai from Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center, where he has been Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs, and Harvard Medical School, where he has been Professor of Medicine. Previously, he served as Chief of Cardiology at VA Boston Healthcare from 2008-2013, and prior to that held a variety of leadership positions at Cleveland Clinic.

“A worthy successor to Dr. Fuster would be almost impossible to find, but Deepak Bhatt is the rare individual who can actually meet that standard. Mount Sinai’s legacy of world-leading cardiology will continue under his leadership,” said Kenneth L. Davis, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Mount Sinai Health System.

Dr. Bhatt is highly recognized for his significant breakthroughs in the field of cardiology, including interventional cardiology, heart disease prevention, vascular medicine, and heart failure. He led a trial that demonstrated the benefit of a potent intravenous antithrombotic drug during stenting, including significant reductions in stent clotting, which led to its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency approvals. His work has also resulted in the first FDA-approved drug, an omega-3 fatty acid prescription medication, to reduce cardiovascular risk among patients with elevated triglyceride levels already treated with statins. He also led the first trial to show a significant benefit of a medication, an SGLT2 inhibitor, in treating patients who have heart failure despite having normal heart muscle function, a major milestone in medicine. His work has also helped advance the understanding and treatment of patients with diabetes and obesity who have cardiovascular disease.

“Deepak Bhatt is one of the most outstanding researchers and clinicians in cardiology today,” said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs of the Mount Sinai Health System. “In recruiting him to Mount Sinai, what was very important to me was his ambition to elevate Mount Sinai Heart—one of the world’s top cardiovascular clinical and research centers—to even greater heights. He is a worthy successor to Valentin Fuster. To me, there is no higher praise.”

Dr. Bhatt is the Editor of the peer-reviewed Journal of Invasive Cardiology, Associate Editor for Clinical Trials and News for the American College of Cardiology website, Editor of Cardiovascular Intervention: A Companion to Braunwald’s Heart Disease and of Opie's Cardiovascular Drugs: A Companion to Braunwald's Heart Disease, a co-Editor of Braunwald’s Heart Disease, and Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Heart Letter for patients. Dr. Bhatt has authored or co-authored more than 1,900 publications.

Dr. Bhatt earned his undergraduate degree from MIT, his medical degree from Cornell University, and a Master of Public Health with a concentration in clinical effectiveness from the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and was a fellow in cardiovascular medicine, interventional cardiology, and cerebral and peripheral vascular intervention at the Cleveland Clinic, where he had also served as Chief Interventional Cardiology Fellow.

He received the Research Mentor Award from Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Medicine in 2016, the Eugene Braunwald Teaching Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Clinical Cardiology from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2017, the American College of Cardiology’s Distinguished Mentor Award in 2018, the American Heart Association’s Distinguished Scientist Award in 2019, the National Lipid Association’s Honorary Lifetime Membership Award in 2021, and the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention’s Master designation in 2022.

“I am very excited to take on this leadership role at Mount Sinai Heart, one of the best cardiovascular centers in the world for clinical care, research, and education. I am humbled to be named the Dr. Valentin Fuster Professor - it is a singular honor in the world of medicine that is unmatched,” said Dr. Bhatt.

Mount Sinai Heart is one of the nation’s top 6 hospitals in Cardiology/Heart Surgery

Mount Sinai Heart is among the top 6 in the nation for cardiology and cardiac surgery, according to U.S. News & World Report.  Newsweek’s “The World’s Best Specialized Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Heart as No. 1 in New York and No. 4 globally.

It is part of Mount Sinai Health System, which is New York City's largest academic medical system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. We advance medicine and health through unrivaled education and translational research and discovery to deliver care that is the safest, highest-quality, most accessible and equitable, and the best value of any health system in the nation. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 free-standing joint-venture centers; more than 410 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked in U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of the top 20 U.S. hospitals and among the top in the nation by specialty: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Urology, and Rehabilitation.

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