Dr. Robert Leon Joins Bassett Heart Care Institute

ONEONTA—Bassett Healthcare Network has welcomed a new cardiologist to its nationally-recognized Heart Care Institute. Robert Leon, MD, FACC, is now seeing patients at the Bassett Heart Care Institute at FoxCare Center in Oneonta and Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown, officials announced on July 20.

According to a press release, Dr. Leon brings decades of experience to the area. After earning his medical degree at The State University of New York at Buffalo in 1990, completing his residency at The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and completing his cardiology fellowship at The University of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, Dr. Leon pursued an academic medicine career, working with fellows and residents at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine within the Montefiore Einstein Health System in the Bronx. During his time there, he developed a passion for seeing patients that went beyond his scholarly pursuits. This led him to open his own solo-private practice in Hoboken, New Jersey—the community where he grew up. He was a consultant in cardiology at the Hackensack University Medical Center, the leading cardiovascular hospital in New Jersey with their own medical school and cardiology fellowship program.

“Some of my patients I saw over many years, and over the course of that time I enjoyed getting to know them as well as their families,” said Dr. Leon. “As time passed, I developed a large practice with two offices and had medical students rotate with me that I mentored. After that, I became chief of cardiology at Carepoint Health, a small, three-hospital system in the Hudson County, New Jersey area.”