Profile | After years of traveling, Daniel José Piñeiro, MD, FACC, has a bit of trouble recalling just how many countries he’s set foot in. “I have a good passport,” says Piñeiro with a laugh.

Daniel José Piñeiro, MD, FACC

Currently serving as a professor of medicine at the University of Buenos Aires and the chair-elect of the ACC Assembly of International Governors, Piñeiro has become a leading figure in cardiology’s global community, participating in more than 100 national and international gatherings and symposia as a coordinator, panelist, lecturer and round table chair.

In addition to his worldly travels, Piñeiro has held leadership positions in a number of multi-national medical institutions. As president of the Inter-American Society of Cardiology, Piñeiro expanded the outreach of the organization to engage in worldwide non-communicable disease efforts, participating in United Nations summits and joint programs with groups such as The Pan American Health Organization. Most recently Piñeiro worked alongside the ACC at the World Health Assembly to ensure passage of key global targets to combat cardiovascular disease. Unsurprisingly, Piñeiro’s inclusive, border-crossing perspective was recognized by the ACC, who awarded him with the 2014 International Service Award.

“The world is flat now and we are connecting as a network,” says Piñeiro. “I think with many national organizations and many local organizations in each city and in each community, we have to try to move from a centralized model to a more decentralized model. I also think the mood now is to move to a more interconnected world for our organizations. As the saying goes, ‘Think globally but act locally.’”

For Piñeiro, such border-crossing outreach can have substantial benefits for patients across the world. Not only can a dialogue of ideas, research and education be made more readily available to a wider audience, but countries will be better able to look towards one another for shared resources, tools and technology. As more and more health care professionals realize their goals are shared by others like them halfway around the world, the sooner this medical globalization can reach its intended state. The true challenge will then be translating concepts into action.

“I think the biggest challenge is implementation,” Piñeiro adds. “We know a lot about coronary heart disease, hypertension, obesity, lipids and smoking, but the implementation of this knowledge is not very good. We have to be able to reach anybody in the world with our knowledge of effective medicine.”

Keywords: Lipids, Pan American Health Organization, Cardiovascular Diseases, Coronary Disease, Obesity, Hypertension, Awards and Prizes, Smoking, Leadership, Research, Cardiology Magazine, ACC Publications

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