Dr. Fred WatsonMD, FACC

Dr. Fred Watson focuses on spotting and lowering cardiovascular risk before it becomes heart disease. He manages advanced lipid disorders and high blood pressure and uses cardiac imaging, including echocardiography, to assess heart health. His overarching goal is to help patients extend their healthspan.

Yes. Dr. Watson specializes in advanced lipid management and hypertension. He draws on more than three decades of general, preventive, and noninvasive cardiology experience to tailor treatment to each patient's risk profile, and he pairs medical therapy with heart-healthy lifestyle guidance.

Dr. Watson practices evidence-based, participatory medicine, working alongside patients to make decisions about their heart health. As a fourth-generation physician, he prefers to practice as a generalist and consider the whole patient rather than a single organ. He emphasizes prevention over reacting to problems after they appear.

Yes. Dr. Watson holds ABIM board certification in both Cardiovascular Disease and Internal Medicine, plus certification from the National Board of Echocardiography. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and a member of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology.

Dr. Watson earned a B.A. in Chemistry at the University of California, San Diego and his M.D. at the University of Texas Medical Branch. He completed internal medicine residency at Banner University Medical Center (Good Samaritan Hospital) in Phoenix. He then finished a clinical research fellowship in heart failure and transplant at the University of Utah and a cardiology fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he served as a Clinical Fellow in Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Watson spent most of his career as a clinical cardiologist in the San Francisco Bay Area. He led the cardiology division at Mills-Peninsula Hospital and practiced with Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group. Today he also teaches as a Clinical Instructor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Dr. Watson suits patients who want to understand and reduce their heart disease risk, including those with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or a family history of cardiovascular disease. Health-focused patients who want to protect their heart as they age also benefit from his preventive focus and generalist perspective.