This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Fuster, V. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Fuster, V.

(Circulation. 1999;100:106.)
© 1999 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiovascular News

Passing of the Torch

Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD¹

¹ Immediate Past President, American Heart Association

	Introduction

 
While president of the American Heart Association during 1998–1999, one of the projects that I enjoyed the most was the writing of occasional columns for Circulation on National Institutes of Health funding of research, the AHA's new strategic plan, and other subjects of interest to cardiologists and other health professionals and scientists involved in cardiovascular research and medicine.

For this column, which is being published after I step down as AHA president, I am delighted to introduce Circulation readers to my successor: Lynn Smaha, MD, PhD, an active AHA volunteer for 21 years and recipient of the organization's Award of Meritorious Achievement. Dr Smaha, who became AHA president on Sunday, June 27, 1999, is a practicing clinical cardiologist at the Guthrie Clinic in Sayre, Pa. He is also the clinic's executive vice president of corporate affairs, a position that he recently assumed after resigning as its president and chief executive officer to devote more time to the extensive travel and meeting schedule required of the AHA's president.

However, even as the clinic's CEO, Dr Smaha gave much of his time to the AHA locally and nationally. A former president of the Pennsylvania Affiliate, Dr Smaha is a member of the AHA's national board of directors. His other national volunteer activities have included chairing the AHA's Emergency Cardiac Care (ECC) Business Oversight Committee that administered the strategic, detailed business plan for the AHA's ECC program. He was a member of the 21st Century Steering Team that resulted in the creation of . . . [Full Text of this Article]