Gervasio A. Lamas, M.D., director of cardiovascular research and academic affairs at Mount Sinai Medical Center, has been named Latino of the Year by the Latin Business Club of America for his outstanding contributions to medicine and the community. The award recognizes individuals whose efforts expose Latino influences above and beyond Latin markets.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Dr. Lamas received his BA in biochemical sciences (cum laude) from Harvard College and his M.D. with honors from New York University. He completed his internship and residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital of Harvard Medical School, where he later served as assistant professor of medicine. Dr. Lamas relocated to South Florida in 1993, when he started work as chief of cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center. During the last decade, he has had authority and responsibility for the enrolling thousands of patients in more than a dozen U.S. and international trials, in order to improve cardiac care and prevent death and disability from heart disease. He served as chairman of the Mode Selection Trial in Sinus Node Dysfunction (MOST), a trial that revolutionized cardiac pacemakers. He presently serves as co-chairman for the Occluded Artery Trial (OAT), and study chair for the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT), a $30 million trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Lamas has served as President of the Miami Chapter of the American Heart Association, and District Counsellor for the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Lamas also served on the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association joint committee that re-wrote the national guidelines for the treatment of heart attacks. Dr. Lamas is author of 130 publications, including 78 original reports, 14 book chapters and 38 reviews. He also directs the training program in cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical

Center and works as a clinical cardiologist with the South Florida Medical Institute.