Dr. Palacios is an internationally recognized expert in the field of interventional cardiology and is a pioneer in the field of percutaneous interventions for structural heart disease. He is member of the editorial board of several peer-reviewed journals in Cardiology and has received several awards for distinguished service to medicine and the community in Venezuela, Latin America, and the United States. In 1999, his home country awarded him the Gran Cordon del Libertador ("grand rope of the Liberator) which is the highest honor awarded by the Republic of Venezuela.
In 1997, Dr. Palacios received the Clinician of the Year award; and has been recognized as one of the Best Doctors in the United States by Woodward/White, Inc. for over 10 years; and is included in the U.S. Registry of Who is Who of Outstanding Americans. In 1996,
Dr. Palacios is a founding member of the Latin American Society for Interventional Cardiology and has made many contributions to Latin American medicine including teaching and lecture presentations . He was also instrumental in helping to establish multi-center clinical trials focusing on interventional cardiology throughout Latin America. He has been a mentor and promoter of more than 25 cardiologists who have become leaders of interventional cardiology in several leading institutions in the USA and abroad. He has published extensively, authoring over 250 papers and 24 book chapters.