Call: 954-851-9966
Natalia Villate, MD is a board certified ophthalmologist that specializes in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients with medical and surgical diseases of the retina. She has a special interest in macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, uveitis, and the surgical treatment of cataract complications. Located in Broward and Palm Beach County, Dr. Villate uses state–of–the–art surgical and laser techniques to treat various conditions such as:
•Retinal detachments
•Macular holes
•Epiretinal membranes
•Vascular conditions affecting the eye
Born in Columbus, Ohio and raised in Bogota, Colombia, Dr. Villate received her Doctorate of Medicine degree from Universidad Del Rosario where she graduated in the top 10% of her class. She then travelled to Paris, France to complete Internal Medicine Internship at The Pitie–Salpetriere Hospital and a postgraduate Immunology Course at the Pasteur Institute, followed by a pre–residency research fellowship in uveitis at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. In 1992, she received the award for best research paper presented at the Pan–American Association of Ophthalmology Meeting in Seville, Spain.
Soon after, she returned to Bogota where she did her Ophthalmology Residency at Fundacion Oftalmologica Nacional followed by a year Vitreoretinal Surgery fellowship. After completing several successful years as a vitreoretinal surgeon in the country of Colombia, she decided to relocate back to the United States. While at this university, Dr. Villate completed an Internship at the University Of Kansas School Of Medicine, a 3–year Residency in Ophthalmology at the Ophthalmology Department and served as the department’s Chief Resident. She also completed a Medical Retina Fellowship at the prestigious Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
During her Fellowship at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Dr. Villate was involved in innovative research on macular degeneration, macular imaging techniques and image analysis. She actively participated on the clinical trials with photodynamic therapy and in large phase II/III studies that conducted to the approval of Lucentis™ for wet macular degeneration. She also acquired extensive experience on ophthalmic ultrasound and served as a certified angiography reader for clinical trials at the DARC in New York for seven years.
Doctor Villate is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, a member of the American Society of Retinal Specialists and the Palm Beach County Ophthalmology Society. Her work has been published in several peer review journals and she has been a presenter at numerous national and international ophthalmic meetings. She co–authored several book chapters of the Optical Coherence Tomography of Ocular Diseases.
Doctor Villate considers herself as a dynamic physician who has a diverse yet specific set of vital skills. She is interested in ocular manifestations of systemic diseases and strives to treat every patient in a comprehensive and individualized fashion. She enjoys patient care and strives to maintain high quality and compassionate communication with her patients. She is fluent in English, Spanish and French.
