Dr. Vladimir Fortunato (1885–1938), once lauded but now obscure Russian-American medical model sculptor.

This article focuses on Dr. Vladimir Fortunato (1885–1938), a Russian-American physician and sculptor renowned for creating highly detailed and lifelike medical models and anatomical sculptures during the early twentieth century. After emigrating to the United States in 1921, Fortunato worked with prestigious institutions such as Johns Hopkins Hospital and later collaborated with Dr. Robert Latou Dickinson in New York on reproductive system models for the 1939 New York World's Fair. Despite receiving national recognition, including a Treasury Department gold medal, and producing influential works like pathological moulages and a death mask of President Woodrow Wilson, Fortunato's legacy has largely faded, overshadowed by technological advances in medical visualization and subsequent collaborators. His sculptures represent a historical era of medical pedagogy that combined artistic craftsmanship with educational utility, emphasizing tactile and visual engagement with human anatomy and disease.