Barry L. Zaret

Barry Lewis Zaret (1940-2022) was an American cardiologist who helped to establish the specialism of non-invasive nuclear cardiology, and was the founding editor of the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology. He was also a painter and a poet.

Early life and education Zaret was born on October 3, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York City. He was born to Jewish parents who had, at the time, recently fled Europe and started a new life in New York. He went to a public high school before pursuing medicine at Queens College, now known as part of the City College of New York. After graduating in 1962, he went to the New York University School of Medicine.

Career Cardiology In 1969, Zaret accepted a cardiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital and started studying under Richard Ross and Dick Conti. A major person involved in Zaret's career was Bill (William) Strauss. He met Strauss at Bellevue Hospital where they became good friends and later went on to complete their fellowships at Johns Hopkins Hospital together. As said in the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology, "Zaret and Strauss collaborated initially on a research project measuring coronary blood flow after the intracoronary injection of radioactive Xenon. While waiting for software to quantify coronary blood flow data, they realized that an ECG gating circuitry used for other purposes would allow for gated cardiac blood pool imaging in diastole and systole, using Tc-99m labeled albumin. This then would permit assessment of regional ventricular wall motion and measurement of global ejection fraction."

Additionally, Zaret was an avid poet who often wrote about cardiology. His poetry was also described as being "refracted through a Jewish lens". One of the longest serving chiefs of cardiology at any U.S university hospital Published four poetry books Earned the honor of Phi Beta Kappa in 1961