Ask the Expert 2025

Dr. Andrew Barleben
UC Davis Health Aortic Center

How does an aortic center serve the community?

Complex aortic diseases can be life-threatening, sneaky to detect, and tricky to treat. For example, aortic aneurysms are sometimes called “ticking time bombs” and have ranked among the nation’s top 20 causes of death. Our aortic center raises the level of care by gathering vascular surgeons, heart surgeons, cardiologists, interventional radiologists and others to provide a full range of medical and surgical treatments, informed by the latest research. Clinical guidelines for aortic disease by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology encourage using centers with multidisciplinary aortic teams—like ours—to determine when to intervene.

Why did you specialize in vascular and aortic care?

There’s so much opportunity to make a difference by advancing options and personalizing care. For example, one of my main specialties is minimally invasive treatments for patients who are too unhealthy for traditional open surgery, or have no traditional options at all. Also, each patient should receive care tailored to their specific needs. I’m constantly balancing leading-edge technology against traditional, proven approaches, and arming patients with the information needed to make the best choices for their own bodies.

What brought you to UC Davis Health?

UC Davis is one of Northern California’s top referral centers for complex aortic reconstructions. I’m thrilled to join the team and work together on additional pioneering options. In the past, I’ve explored ideas such as custom treatments based on 3D-printed models of patients’ specific anatomy; we’re pursuing similar collaborations here.

4860 Y St. Sacramento. 800-2-UC-DAVIS (800-282-3284)
health.ucdavis.edu/vascular