Clara Alvarez Villalba, M.D.

Media Releases

Get to know Psychiatrist Dr. Clara Alvarez Villalba, who serves patients in Aventura, Florida.

A trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Villalba is affiliated with East Florida Behavioral Health Network. Her areas of clinical interest include mood disorders, women’s health, psychopharmacology and geriatrics, and she has given a variety of presentations on topics such as depression, deep brain stimulation for obsessive compulsive disorder, and psychiatry in transgender health.

At East Florida Behavioral Health Network, the psychiatrists and mental health specialists provide patients with both individual and group based therapy programs, including age specific programming and co-occurring disorders. The interdisciplinary behavioral health team specifically provides for a therapeutic environment for patients with major psychiatric diagnoses, such as: adjustment disorders, addictions, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, ADHD, schizophrenia, pre and postpartum depression, medication management, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia.

Alongside her position at East Florida Behavioral Health Network, Dr. Villalba is the Founding Program Director of the Psychiatry Residency Program at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center. 

Throughout her line of work, she has served as Medical Director of the Outpatient Behavioral Health Center at the Memorial Regional Hospital and at the Adult Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic at the Jackson Memorial Hospital, in collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami. She was also an Assistant Professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, an Attending Psychiatrist at the Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, and an Adjunct Lecturer at the City College of New York.

Pertaining to her academic background, Dr. Villalba earned her medical degree from the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario in Bogota, Colombia in 1994, after which she completed her medical internship at the Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá. She then went on to complete her residency in psychiatry at the Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Hospital, an affiliate of the Weill Cornell Medical College, in 2007. She served as Chief Resident in her final year of residency before moving on to pursue a fellowship in psychosomatic medicine at the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in 2008.

With over three decades of experience in her field, the doctor is board-certified in adult psychiatry, addiction medicine, and psychosomatic medicine by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). The ABPN is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to serving the professions of psychiatry and neurology.

Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behavior, cognition, and perceptions. Psychiatrists evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients with mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. They conduct thorough psychiatric evaluations, develop treatment plans, prescribe medication, and evaluate treatment results.

As a testament to her excellent patient care, Dr. Villalba has been the recipient of various accolades, including the Patients’ Choice Award (2018) and Compassionate Doctor Recognition Award (2018). 

Recommended Articles

• Diabetes Patients at Higher Risk of Suffering a Stroke

  High blood sugar, blood flow problems, and diabetic ketoacidosis are just a few issues that diabetic patients need to keep in mind when managing their illness. But, this list continues to grow as we learn more about the disease.It was recently discovered that those who are struggling with this...

• Companies Want to Work with People Who Have Autism

  In the United States, statistics indicate that as many as 80-90% of adults on the autism spectrum are either unemployed or underemployed. These poor outcomes are not the result of an inability among individuals with autism to demonstrate their competence and to perform job tasks. Rather, for the...

• Links Between Shortened Telomeres and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

  Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), is a disease that affects children and is one of the nine forms of Muscular Dystrophy (MD). Duchenne usually presents in early childhood between the ages of three and five, and although girls can be affected, it is more prevalent in boys. The disease affects 1 in...

• Restless Legs Syndrome: The Causes

  Restless legs syndrome is a neurological condition affecting millions of people around the world. The condition is characterized by the having the constant urge to move your leg, which usually occurs at night. Although RLS is serious, it is a treatable condition. Causes of Restless Legs...

• Can My Sleeping Habits Influence the Development of Migraines?

  Our grandmothers and parents used to insist on a sound sleep of 8 hours in the night. But with the changed lifestyle, use of computers, mobile phones and technology increasingly being used, our sleeping patterns and the duration has changed drastically.Many of the younger generation have opted for...

• What is Apraxia?

  Apraxia is a neurological condition in which the affected person may not be able to perform a particular movement when they want to. This is true even when the movement is learned. In some cases, mild symptoms are seen and this condition is referred to as dyspraxia. There are different types of...