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Merceditas Villanueva, MD

Professor of Medicine (Infectious diseases)
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Appointments

AIDS
Dual, Primary

Additional Titles

HIV / AIDS Care Program Director, Infectious Diseases

Donaldson Firm Chief, Infectious Diseases

About

Titles

Professor of Medicine (Infectious diseases)

HIV / AIDS Care Program Director, Infectious Diseases; Donaldson Firm Chief, Infectious Diseases

Biography

Dr. Villanueva is Director of the HIV/AIDS Program and Associate Professor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. She obtained her undergraduate degree at Harvard University and MD at Washington University. She completed Internal Medicine Residency training at Duke University and subspecialty fellowship training in Infectious Diseases at Yale.

After fellowship, she left academia to work at Waterbury Hospital, a community hospital, where she was Chief of Infectious Diseases. During this time, she established the Ryan White-funded HIV clinic which worked closely with community based AIDS organizations. Her experience in promoting collaborations became the basis for subsequent research interests and her recruitment back to Yale.

A major focus of her academic work has been on developing HIV educational curricula for medical providers including Yale house staff and community providers throughout CT. She also serves as the Principal Investigator for the New Haven Ryan White HIV Continuum, a collaboration between different clinics and community organizations which promotes service coordination to improve quality of care for HIV patients, particularly those that are underserved. Her research interests focus on optimizing models of care that capitalize on partnerships between the medical establishment and community support.

Appointments

Education & Training

Fellow
Yale New Haven Hospital (1991)
Resident
Duke University (1988)
Intern
Michael Reese Hospital (1986)
MD
Washington University School of Medicine, Medicine (1985)
BA
Harvard College, Biochemistry (1981)

Research

Overview

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; Global Health; Infectious Disease Medicine

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Merceditas Villanueva's published research.

Publications

2024

2023

Clinical Trials

Current Trials

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    YNHH MD-RN Dyad Patient Experience Committee

  • activity

    New Haven Ryan White HIV Continuum

  • activity

    Taking Care of Me First: A Panel Discussion on Data to Care Re-Engagement

  • activity

    Cllinicalinfo.HIV.gov

  • activity

    HIV Update

Clinical Care

Overview

Merceditas S. Villanueva, MD, director of the Yale Medicine AIDS Care Program, is an infectious disease specialist with a clinical focus on HIV and AIDS. She cares for patients in the hospital who are sick with various infections, as well as those with complications of HIV. She also treats patients in the Nathan Smith Clinic, where she primarily treats HIV.

As a clinician, Dr. Villanueva believes in getting to know each patient as an individual. “I think that way you really make a difference in people's lives,” she says. “Sometimes we think it has to be this huge thing that you do for people. But it's the little things that you notice that will make a difference—the ability to hear them, the ability to link them to the right resources if they need it.” People living with HIV have different needs that require resources beyond strict medical care, she says. “A team approach including community-based partners is essential.”

Dr. Villanueva was drawn to the field of infectious diseases after traveling to different countries with her father, who worked for the United Nations. She saw many people who struggled with diseases that called for medical care within the context of global public health concerns. “I always felt that it would be great to make an impact in those communities,” Dr. Villanueva says. The field of HIV pulled all those interests together.

AIDS was a uniformly fatal disease when Dr. Villanueva was a medical student in the early 1980s. In the last two to three decades, increasingly better treatments have made HIV a chronic disease. “The message that we gave patients in the early days was, ‘Let's try to make your remaining days as comfortable as possible.’ But that message has totally changed. HIV is not curable, but as long as people take their medications, it’s controllable, so people living with HIV can lead, more or less, normal lives.” As such, doctors and researchers are turning their attention to people with HIV who are surviving into their 50s and 60s.

Dr. Villanueva is an associate professor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine. Before coming to Yale, she founded the Ryan White-funded HIV clinic at Waterbury Hospital, and she now serves as the principal investigator for the New Haven Ryan White HIV Continuum, a collaboration between clinics and community organizations that promotes service coordination to improve quality of care for HIV patients, particularly those who are medically underserved. She works closely with community-based AIDS organizations and providers throughout Connecticut, and her research focuses on optimizing models of care that capitalize on partnerships between medical providers, public health professionals and community partners.

Clinical Specialties

Internal Medicine; Infectious Diseases

Fact Sheets

Board Certifications

  • Internal Medicine

    Certification Organization
    AB of Internal Medicine
    Original Certification Date
    1988

Yale Medicine News

Get In Touch

Contacts

Academic Office Number
Appointment Number
Clinic Fax Number

Locations

  • Internal Medicine - AIDS Program

    Academic Office

    135 College Street, Fl 3, Ste 323

    New Haven, CT 06510

    General Information

    203.737.6133
  • Patient Care Locations

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