Dr. Amparo C. Villablanca received her medical degree at the UC Davis School of Medicine in 1983 and completed her Internal Medicine residency and subsequent fellowship training in cardiovascular medicine in 1990. She 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 United States. 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 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. Department of Health and Human Services, and private foundations.