Catherine Dao

MD

Cardiologist
Medical Director, San Mateo Primary and Specialty Care

Dr. Catherine Dao is a cardiologist who cares for patients with a variety of cardiovascular conditions, including arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), cardiomyopathy (diseases of the heart muscle), and coronary artery disease. She has particular interests in echocardiography (ultrasound imaging of the heart), preventive cardiology and women's heart health. She is medical director of the UCSF San Mateo Primary and Specialty Care Clinic.

Dao earned her medical degree at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She completed a residency in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, followed by fellowships in cardiac MRI and cardiovascular medicine at Stanford Medicine.

In her free time, Dao enjoys cheering for the Golden State Warriors, hosting dinner parties and traveling abroad. She also loves to spend time outdoors; she climbed Half Dome in Yosemite National Park when she was three months pregnant.

  • Education

    Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, MD, 2006

  • Residencies

    Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Internal Medicine, 2009

  • Fellowships

    Stanford Medicine, MRI, 2011

    Stanford Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine, 2015

I believe in developing collaborative relationships with all my patients and am committed to providing high-quality, personalized care.

Conditions I specialize in

Where I see patients (2)

    My reviews

    4.4

    Overall Experience
    186 Ratings
    About our process
    Feb 26, 2023
    Dr was sooh accommodating appreciate her
    Feb 07, 2023
    Dr. Dao provided the best professional care and advise on my condition. Clear and simple easy to follow.
    Feb 04, 2023
    Dr Dao shows her deep concern by being generous with her time and in the resources she brings as well as the careful sensitive listening she engages. She doesn't smile or laugh which may not be her style and that may bother some people.
    Feb 03, 2023
    Very cold looked as if she was annoyed Blank face not warm in anyway no smile or face expression at all.
    Jan 06, 2023
    Lack of curiosity lack of concern she seemed annoyed to have to see me. Lack of knowledge of my condition and condescending to try to gaslight me to stop asking questions. I wanted to understand my chest discomfort and all she said is shes not surprised at my chest discomfort. Everyone else at ucsf was great though from nurse to admin.
    Dec 28, 2022
    I guess I can't get over the original disappointment in how long it took to get an appointment to be told I have issues and then not being able to get an appointment for 3 months.
    Dec 20, 2022
    Listened well. Understood my concerns. Thorough. Reassuring.
    Nov 25, 2022
    Excellent expert advice and support were rendered I appreciate the care extended.
    Nov 05, 2022
    I'm confident the care provider is highly knowledgeable and competent. However I also found that they failed in their attempts to appear patient and nonjudgmental.
    Oct 26, 2022
    As usual she listened carefully and communicated clearly helpful information.
    Oct 14, 2022
    The "provider" did not discuss the EKG findings or her exam evaluation during or at the completion of the visit also did not add to MyChart after visit summary. My objective for this visit was to acquaint myself with the UCSF cardio dept. She spent more time then necessary talking about my history which is obviously known to me. She added she is very busy so maybe she does not have the time for new patients. Just my thoughts being I am new to UCSF & all other visits would get the highest rating!
    Oct 11, 2022
    The Dr came 30 minutes late and had a horrible attitude. I'm not sure if she was just having a bad day but she was very unprofessional and at times appeared to even roll her eyes. She did not listen to any concerns of mine and in-fact incorrectly noted them in my after care report summary. She made me feel bad that I even had an appointment as if I had asked to see her and said the tests were essentially useless for me. I was referred by UCSF neurology as an inpatient after having a tests done there after informing her of that she quickly changed her tone and decided I should get the heart monitor test. All in all I am dissatisfied in this experience and would not recommend ucsf cardiology. It's very disappointing after having such a great experience with ucsf neurology.
    Jul 21, 2022
    Not satisfied with her. Will pick another MD if I go back to this clinic again or change to parnassus clinic to see another cardiologist.
    Jul 16, 2022
    The doctor indicated she had not read the echocardiogram I had in 2020 out of state before moving to California. She appears to have tried to cover up that fact by including reference to that testing in her visit notes after the fact. The doctor also stated that the aneurysm may just be a measurement error and an "isolated finding." Given the 13% growth in the last 2 years I am pretty sure this is not a measurement error or "isolated finding." I have absolutely no confidence in her medical advice.
    Jun 02, 2022
    Dr. Catherine Nguyen Dao is an excellent care provider answered all of our questions and I would recommend her to anyone!!
    May 30, 2022
    Good experience
    May 22, 2022
    Good
    Mar 23, 2022
    Medical office is far from my residence
    Mar 21, 2022
    Still not quite sure as to why I have certain symptoms but these may be anomalies and not able to be directly attributed to anything specific.
    Mar 15, 2022
    I do not remember my follow-up care program
    Jan 30, 2022
    One thing that was unexpected was that the managing physician said I should avoid exercise until I speak to my primary cardiologist Catherine Dao. However meanwhile when I read the test results I could not see why I should refrain from exercise and sure enough when I had my follow-up appointment I was told I had normal test results. I am glad that I am not a worry wort or else I could have become quite concerned! At least I had read the test results and could ascertain that my tests results were normal as I had worked in cardiology during a job as a medical writer at Johnson and Johnson.
    Jan 27, 2022
    Not a great communicator. By the end I understood that she may not have the expertise needed to answer my questions. But instead of saying so she kind of glossed over them and stuck with her talk track. Didn't have the depth of expertise I was seeking / expected from a UCSF cardiologist. Discussion of my lab results and recommendations were in line with that of my General Practioner not a specialist.
    Jan 19, 2022
    Good
    Dec 28, 2021
    Taking into account this was a video visit the provider is a low talker and relatively fast talker which made It difficult to hear the provider clearly/succinctly at all times during the appt. Warmth friendliness and general sense of genuine caring was lacking.
    Nov 09, 2021
    I still have little understanding of the significance of the test results; some of the notes on the after visit summary (which just came in today) are inaccurate; very impersonal
    Nov 08, 2021
    I emailed Dr. Dao if it was ok to have my wife and friend (a retired nurse) to join the call and Dr. Dao was fine with that and even answered questions from my friend. So it was a good experience that shows her confidence in her profession and willingness to be open to answer any questions.
    Oct 25, 2021
    Will know more about future when I face time with her this week.
    Oct 10, 2021
    Dr. Dao listened to my concerns and suggested a follow up test for my inability to sleep at night.
    Oct 04, 2021
    Dr Dao worked very methodologically through the visit and did go through my case in detail. However throughout the appointment they did not treat me like a human and try to put me at ease reassure or try to see things from my perspective. They made me feel like asking questions or needing more clarification was inappropriate or me being difficult.
    Sep 29, 2021
    The visit is very helpful. It will be great if a brief after visit summary is provided.
    Jul 03, 2021
    This is the first time I have seen this provider so until tests have been done and discussed it is difficult to provide a fair evaluation. I was impressed by her thoroughness but found her demeanor very distant. Perhaps an in-person visit will elicit some warmth and engagement.
    May 18, 2021
    good

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