Amparo C. Villablanca, M.D.
Frances Lazda Endowed Chair, Women's Cardiovascular Medicine
Chair, UC Systemwide Group for Inclusive Leadership for Women
Director, Women's Cardiovascular Medicine Program
Principal Investigator, UC Davis Center for Women's Cardiovascular and Brain Health
Professor, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
To see if Amparo C. Villablanca is accepting new patients, or for assistance finding a UC Davis doctor, please call 800-2-UCDAVIS (800-282-3284).
Locations and Contact
4860 Y St.
Sacramento, CA 95817
Additional Numbers
Phone
Clinic Phone
Physician Referrals
Philosophy of Care
My philosophy of care is woman-centered and culturally sensitive, with respect for each patient. My goals of care are to use evidence-based and data-driven approaches to deliver patient centered care, treat disease, improve health-care outcomes, reduce gender-based health disparities, and empower women (and men) to live longer and healthier lives.
Clinical Interests
Dr Villablanca is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Meidcine and a non-invasive cardiologist offering care for a wide spectrum of cardiovascular conditions in adults including coronary heart disease, heart failure, arrhythmias, and valve disease. She has special expertise in heart disease in women as founder and Director of the first woman's heart program in the U.S., and has special interest in cardiovascular conditions more prevalent/ specific in women including autonomic dysfunction, ischemia with normal coronary arteries (INOCA), pregnancy associated cardiovascular disease including pre-eclampsia and peri-partum cardiomyopathy, and spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD). She also has expertise in all aspects of preventive cardiology and cardiac intensive care. For more information please see https://health.ucdavis.edu/internalmedicine/cardio/women/.
Research/Academic Interests
Dr. Villablanca is a physician-scientist and the Founding Director of the UC Davis Women's Cardiovascular Medicine Program, the first woman's heart program in the US. Her translational research program focuses on understanding sex differences in the molecular and cellular determinants of cardiovascular disease, including the vascular determinants of dementia. She is also a leader in community-based participatory research, and has developed and assessed efficacy of heart disease prevention models for improving heart disease outcomes in women who are at high-risk for cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Villablanca is also a mentor, champion, and scholar for women in science careers and has published extensively in the field and received numerous awards for her work. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Dpt of Health and Human Services, and private Foundations. Her work has been profiled by the NIH as a 'woman scientist in action', https://womeninscience.nih.gov/women_scientists/villablanca.asp, and by UC Davis Women in STEM, https://www.ucdavis.edu/academics/women-stem/. She is committed to helping women in academic health sciences advance to leadership positions and serves a chair of the UC system-wide group for inclusive leadership for women at UC Health.
Division
Cardiovascular Medicine
Undergraduate School
B.S., UCLA, Los Angeles CA 1979
Medical School
M.D., UC Davis School of Medicine, Davis CA 1983
Internship
Internal Medicine-Primary Care, UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento CA 1983-1984
Residency
Internal Medicine-Primary Care, UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento CA 1984-1986
Fellowship
Clinical Fellow-Cardiovascular Medicine, UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento CA 1987-1990
Fellowship
Research Fellow-Interdisciplinary Clinical Research, UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento CA 1986-1987
Castle Connoly Top Doctors, Exceptional Women in Medicine Award, 2020, 2021, 2022
Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award, UC Davis, 2011
The Hibbard E Williams, MD Extraordinary Lifetime Achievement Award, UC Davis, 2008
Heart of Gold Award, American Heart Association, 2007
Distinguished Alumna Award, UC Davis, 1999
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=amparo+villablanca&sort=
Norman JE, Nuthikattu S, Milenkovic D, Rutledge JC, Villablanca AC. A high sucrose diet modifies brain oxylipins in a sex-dependent manner. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2022 Nov;186:102506. doi:10.1016/j.plefa.2022.102506. Epub 2022 Oct 8. PMID:36244214.
Nuthikattu S, Milenkovic D, Norman JE, Rutledge J, Villablanca A. High Glycemia and Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase in Females: Differential Multiomics in Murine Brain Microvasculature. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Oct 27;23(21):13044. doi:10.3390/ijms232113044. PMID:36361847.
Nuthikattu S, Milenkovic D, Rutledge JC, Villablanca AC. Lipotoxic Injury Differentially Regulates Brain Microvascular Gene Expression in Male Mice. Nutrients. 2020 Jun 13;12(6):1771. doi:10.3390/nu12061771. PMID:32545722.
Nuthikattu S, Milenkovic D, Rutledge J, Villablanca A. The Western Diet Regulates Hippocampal Microvascular Gene Expression: An Integrated Genomic Analyses in Female Mice. Sci Rep. 2019 Dec 13;9(1):19058. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-55533-9. PMID:31836762.
Carr PL, Helitzer D, Freund K, Westring A, McGee R, Campbell PB, Wood CV, Villablanca A. A Summary Report from the Research Partnership on Women in Science Careers. J Gen Intern Med. 2019 Mar;34(3):356-362. doi:10.1007/s11606-018-4547-y. Epub 2018 Jul 12. PMID:30003480.
Shaikh U, Acosta DA, Freischlag JA, Young HM, Villablanca AC. Developing Diverse Leaders at Academic Health Centers: A Prerequisite to Quality Health Care? Am J Med Qual. 2018 Jul;33(4):440-442. doi:10.1177/1062860617733545. Epub 2017 Oct 13. PMID:29027473.
Raeisi-Giglou P, Volgman AS, Patel H, Campbell S, Villablanca A, Hsich E. Advances in Cardiovascular Health in Women over the Past Decade: Guideline Recommendations for Practice. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2018 Feb;27(2):128-139. doi:10.1089/jwh.2016.6316. Epub 2017 Jul 17. PMID:28714810.
Shauman K, Howell LP, Paterniti DA, Beckett LA, Villablanca AC. Barriers to Career Flexibility in Academic Medicine: A Qualitative Analysis of Reasons for the Underutilization of Family-Friendly Policies, and Implications for Institutional Change and Department Chair Leadership. Acad Med. 2018 Feb;93(2):246-255. doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000001877. PMID:28834844.
Villablanca AC, Li Y, Beckett LA, Howell LP. Evaluating a Medical School's Climate for Women's Success: Outcomes for Faculty Recruitment, Retention, and Promotion. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2017 May;26(5):530-539. doi:10.1089/jwh.2016.6018. Epub 2017 Feb 7. PMID:28170291.