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Spring/Summer 2011
Dr. Frishman keeps William H. Frishman, M.D., is many things: admired teacher, academic leader, renowned researcher and history buff who still finds time to practice cardiology, write books and cheer the Yankees. It’s a balancing act, and he thrives on it.
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rom childhood, William H. Frishman, M.D. shouldered awareness of his family history of premature coronary disease—as well as a determination to do something about it. While a student at the Bronx High School of Science, he won the first of many national awards he would receive throughout his life—this one for summer research on hyperthyroidism and the heart at Hunter College and Cornell Medical School. “By the end of that summer,” he says, “I knew I wanted to be a cardiologist.” Now, Dr. Frishman, the Barbara and William Rosenthal Chairman of Med icine at New York Medical College, Director of Medicine at Westchester Medical Center and councilor to Alpha Omega Alpha, the national honor medical society, has founded medical journals and published textbooks while presiding over an acclaimed department. But he says his busy days add up to a wellrounded life that’s key to his success.
A promising start At the age of 16, young Bill Frishman enrolled in Boston University’s six-