Dr Friend

Alessandro Villa, D.D.S., Ph.D., M.P.H., is chief of oral medicine, oral oncology and dentistry at Miami Cancer Institute. Dr. Villa specializes in treating oral mucosal and salivary gland diseases, oral precancers and oral complications from cancer treatment. He is fluent in English and Italian.Prior to joining Miami Cancer Institute in 2022, Dr. Villa was an attending physician at the University of California San Francisco, Medical Center and an associate clinical professor of oral medicine and otolaryngology at University of California San Francisco (UCSF). He also directed the oral medicine residency programs at UCSF and Harvard. While at UCSF, he earned the 2021 Short-Term Mentor award and was the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion champion at the University of California 2021.Dr. Villa’s research focuses on oral dysplasia, oral complications from cancer therapy and prevention of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers. He’s been the principal investigator in several clinical trials including the use of immunotherapy to manage oral proliferative leukoplakia. His research has been published in the Journal of Cancer Education, Cancer, JCO Clinical Practice, the Journal of the American Dental Association and more.He is a member of the American Dental Association, American Academy of Oral Medicine, Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer/International Society of Oral Oncology and the Florida Dental Association.Dr. Villa works with people who have a chronic oral disease, and he believes he is there to accompany them every step of their journeys. When he is not treating patients, Dr. Villa likes to ski, play the piano and explore new places with family and friends.