A nod to her legacy

After 22 years serving families in Taos, Dr. Sylvia Villarreal, M.D., hung up her stethoscope and officially retired at the end of 2021. Holy Cross Medical Center stepped up to take the reins at her clinic, the Taos Clinic for Children and Youth, where 30 percent of her patients were children with special needs. As a nod to her legacy, she was chosen to grace the cover of Well Taos 2022.

Now that she’s retired, Dr. V will be spending more time with family, traveling and fly-fishing. She also hopes to revisit the penguin research study in Patagonia that she worked on in the 1980s.

“When you’re a pediatrician, you’re part of the community. It’s an ecological work... you’re sort of working with who lives here, how many generations they’ve been here, etc. They’ve helped me and I’ve helped them,” said Dr. V.

The Taos News wants to salute and say “thank you” to this remarkable woman who has left an indelible mark on the children and families in our community and will be sorely missed.