Friends of the Israel Heart Society

Joseph Stephen Alpert, MD
Robert S. and Irene P. Flinn Professor of Medicine
University of Arizona College of Medicine
Tucson, Arizona

Dr. Joseph Stephen Alpert is Special Assistant to the Dean of the College of Medicine and Robert S. and Irene P. Flinn Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine,College of Medicine,University of Arizona,Tucson, Arizona.  Dr. Alpert came to the University of Arizona from the University of Massachusetts in Worcester where he served as the Edward Budnitz Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Director, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine as well as Vice-Chairman of Medicine.  From 1992-2006, Dr. Alpert was chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

A native of Connecticut, Dr. Alpert obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree (Magna Cum Laude) fromYale University where he was elected to Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa.  He obtained his Medical Doctorate (Cum Laude)from Harvard Medical School where he was elected to AOA.  In 1967, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the University of Copenhagen for excellence in a scientific thesis.  Dr. Alpert did his internal medicine residency and cardiology training at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, a teaching hospital of the Harvard Medical School, and was a Research Fellow of the Massachusetts Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health.  Following his fellowship, Dr. Alpert became a staff cardiologist and Director of the Coronary Care Unit at theNaval Regional Medical Center in San Diego and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego.  Following his military service, he returned to Harvard Medical School and was appointed as Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of the Samuel A. Levine Cardiac Unit, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston ,Massachusetts.

In 1978, Dr. Alpert joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts as Professor and Chief of the Section of Cardiovascular Medicine.  In 1992, he was appointed the Robert S. and Irene P. Flinn Professor of Medicine and Chair,Department of Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine.  In 2006, Dr. Alpert stepped down from the departmental chairmanship to join the administrative team of the Dean of the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

Dr. Alpert is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease.  Dr. Alpert has received many teaching awards during his career including the Edward Rhodes Stitt Award for Outstanding Teaching at the Naval Regional Medical Center in San Diego, the George W. Thorn Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Outstanding Teaching Awards at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1981, 1987, 1989, and 1990, and at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2006.  In 1990 he received the William Osler Master Teacher Award and in 1993, the WilliamHarveyMaster Teaching Award both from the University of Miami School of Medicine.  In 1994, he received an Excellence in Teaching Award from the Mt. Sinai Medical School in New York City. In 1998, he was named Clinical Sciences Educator of the Year by the graduating medical student class at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Dr. Alpert received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Clinical Cardiology Council of the American Heart Association in 2001.  In 2004, he was selected as the Gifted Teacher of the Year by theAmericanCollegeof Cardiology “in recognition of his significant contribution to cardiovascular education and the training of professionals in cardiovascular disease”.  In 2006 he was named the attending physician of the year by the medical residents at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

Dr. Alpert has been a member of the American Heart Association since 1971. He is a Fellow of the Council on Clinical Cardiology of the American Heart Association and a past chairman of this Council, and a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Physicians, the American College of Chest Physicians, and the European Society of Cardiology.  He was recently the President of the Society of Geriatric Cardiology.  He has served on many national committees of these organizations.

He is an honorary member of the Danish Cardiovascular Society, the Argentina Cardiology Association, and the Israeli Heart Society. Dr. Alpert is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the AmericanCollegeof Cardiology and the Board of Directors of the American Board of Internal Medicine.  He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Professors of Medicine.  Dr. Alpert is the former Editor of the journals Cardiology, Current Cardiology Reports, and Cardiology in Review. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Medicine.  He is a member of the Editorial Board of 10 internal medicine and cardiovascular journals. 

Dr. Alpert is the author of 43 books and monographs, and over 500 publications including more than 200 original scientific publications, more than 300 book chapters, review articles, and editorials, and more than 100 abstracts.  Dr. Alpert lives in Tucson, Arizona and Barnstable, Massachusetts with his wife Helle Mathiasen, Cand Mag, PhD who is the Emeritus Director of Medical Humanities and a faculty member in the College o fMedicine at the University of Arizona.  For many years, he team taught a course entitled Literature and Medicine with his spouse.  Dr. Alpert and his wife have two children, a daughter, Eva, who is a tax attorney and accountant in Boston,Massachusetts, and a son, Niels, who is a director and cinematographer working in Hollywood,California and New York City.