About Us

The Center for Prevention of Heart and Vascular Disease is a patient service-driven, medical cardiology clinic and integrated support program devoted to the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

Led by a team of clinical cardiologists at the UCSF Medical Center, our physicians see outpatients who are referred to us by their primary care doctors due to a documented or assessed risk of heart disease or, following recovery from a previous heart attack or stroke. We provide targeted diagnostic testing, echocardiogram imaging, stress assessment and other clinical care services to diagnose, monitor and manage risk factors that can lead to heart disease. For patients already living with a heart condition we help them devise optimal strategies to best manage their existing condition and achieve good quality of life. To supplement medical care in clinic, we also offer a suite of prevention services including customized diet and exercise programs with licensed professionals who have helped many of our patients achieve and sustain favorable results.

Founded in 2008, we are a part of the Cardiovascular Care and Prevention Center of the UCSF Medical Center and the UCSF Health Cardiology Division of the UCSF School of Medicine.  In our first two years, working from the eleventh floor of the main hospital at Parnassus, our patient population increased approximately 30% per year to 750. On November 1, 2010, we opened the doors of our new facility on the ground floor of the Smith Cardiovascular Research Institute Building (CVRI) located on the Mission Bay campus of UCSF. Today we see the majority of our cardiology outpatients at this location.

Our Center is made possible through the generosity of a founding gift from the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, with additional support from the Safeway Foundation and through the ongoing, generous support of our Cardiology Council members.