Dr. Cristina Boccalandro

Biography

Dr. Boccalandro completed her specialty training in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 2001 and received a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) at The University of Texas School of Public Health shortly after. Although Houston has been Dr. Boccalandro’s home since 1996, she spent the first part of her life in Venezuela where she obtained a Medical Doctor degree at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas. Following, she had the opportunity to spend a year in the Venezuelan Amazon jungle, in the upper Orinoco Basin, working as a jungle physician, with the Yanomami Indians, for Dr. Boccalandro, one of her most proud and important personal experiences. She holds board certification in Endocrinology and has been practicing Endocrinology since 2001. She transitioned to private practice in the fall of 2007, after three productive years as Assistant Professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.

Dr. Boccalandro’s passion for all things thyroid includes performing in-office ultrasounds and biopsies and, most recently, interventional endocrinology, which involves using less invasive methods for endocrine conditions that offer options other than surgery to her patients. She completed specialized training in radiofrequency ablation of the thyroid with world-renowned head and neck surgeon, Dr. Leonardo G. Rangel, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Dr. Boccalandro is the first endocrinologist in the greater Houston area to perform this innovative technique to treat thyroid nodules.

She enjoys the cultural variety of the patients seen at the Texas Medical Center, the largest in the world, helped by her fluency in English and Spanish.