New York, NY (November, 21, 2017) — This Thanksgiving week, WCBS-TV will air “The Resilient Heart,” a feature documentary that explores the keys to eradicating heart disease on a worldwide scale. The film will air on Friday, November 24, from 10 am to 11 am on WCBS (channel 2) and on Sunday, November 26, from 10 pm to 11 pm on WLNY (channels 10/55).
Oscar®-nominated, four-time Emmy winner and Grammy®-winning director Susan Froemke premiered “The Resilient Heart” earlier this year. The film, which centers on the work of Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, a world-renowned cardiologist and Physician-in-Chief at The Mount Sinai Hospital, was an official selection at the Newport Beach Film Festival and is available on Amazon Prime Video and Amazon.com.
“When I first met Dr. Valentin Fuster, I thought cardiovascular disease was a rich nation’s illness, but I soon found out it was the leading cause of death across the globe,” said Ms. Froemke. “Dr. Fuster’s mission to stem the tide of this debilitating epidemic inspired me to make ‘The Resilient Heart’ with the hope of bringing his important story to a wide audience.”
“Every year, more than 17 million people worldwide die from heart disease,” explained Dr. Fuster. “By 2030 that number is expected to be 23 million, and most of those deaths are preventable. I hope this film will help to change those statistics moving forward.”
The film, made with generous support from the Valentin Fuster Mount Sinai Foundation for Science, Health, and Empowerment, Inc., focuses on Dr. Fuster’s research and travels as he discovers that the real answer to fighting chronic disease lies in early education. “The Resilient Heart” follows Dr. Fuster as he travels from Bogota, Colombia, to Eldoret, Kenya; the island of Grenada; Madrid, Spain; and the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, where he encounters the profound impacts of coordinated global health initiatives, proactive public policy, and the passion of people to improve the health and well-being of populations, no matter the circumstances.
The film was directed by Ms. Froemke, a non-fiction filmmaker with more than 30 documentaries to her credit, including the iconic “Grey Gardens” (1976), the Academy Award-nominated “Lalee’s Kin” (2001), “Conversations With The Rolling Stones” (1994), and “Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare,” which premiered at Sundance in 2013.
For four decades, Dr. Fuster has been a global leader in the field of cardiology, including cardiovascular medicine, translational research, and education. He has a keen interest in promoting cardiovascular health, especially for the world’s tiniest hearts—those in our children. Dr. Fuster has published more than 1,000 research studies on the prevention and treatment of heart disease, coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis, and thrombosis. Dr. Fuster is past President of the American Heart Association and the World Heart Federation.