Karol Watson, MD

Professor of Medicine/Cardiology, Co-director, UCLA Program in Preventive Cardiology Director, UCLA Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Health Program, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Karol E. Watson, MD, Ph.D., is a Professor of Medicine/Cardiology and a board-certified, full-time cardiologist at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She holds the John C. Mazziotta Term Chair in Medicine and was honored to be named Cardiologist of the Year by the California chapter of the American College of Cardiology in 2017. Dr. Watson received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University, her Medical Degree from Harvard Medical School, magna cum laude, and her Ph.D. in Physiology from UCLA. She completed an Internal Medicine residency and a Cardiology fellowship at UCLA. She continued as part of the UCLA Specialty Training and Academic Research program and, later, as Chief Fellow in Cardiovascular Diseases at UCLA. Currently, Dr. Watson is the director of the UCLA Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Health Program at UCLA, the Codirector of the UCLA Program in Preventative Cardiology, and the director of the UCLA Fellowship Program in Cardiovascular Diseases. Dr. Watson is past Vice President for the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC); and immediate past chairperson of the scientific advisory board for Womenheart—the largest national organization for women living with heart disease. The American Society of Hypertension recognizes Dr. Watson as a Specialist in Hypertension; she chairs the Cholesterol committee of the Association of Black Cardiologists and serves on several committees and panels of the National Institutes of Health, including serving on the NIH Expert Panel for the Integrated Clinical Guideline for Cardiovascular Risk Reduction. Dr. Watson’s more than 100 publications and presentations have addressed many subjects, including the prevention of heart disease, vascular calcification, hormone replacement therapy, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and cardiovascular disease in African Americans.