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Dallas De La Vara

Dallas De La Vara

HS Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Neurology

Biography

Dallas De La Vara, M.D., is HS Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, Irvine. He completed his M.D. at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine in 2018, followed by an internship in medicine at Woodhull Medical Center in Brooklyn and a neurology residency at Harbor UCLA Medical Center. He then completed a fellowship in Headache Medicine and Sports Neurotrauma at the University of Florida at Gainesville from 2022 to 2024, where he trained under Yulia Orlova and Michael Jaffee.

De La Vara's clinical practice focuses on headache medicine and sports neurology, with particular expertise in concussion, mild traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic headache. He provides specialized procedures including occipital nerve blocks, trigger point injections, and trigeminal nerve blocks, and manages patients with treatment-refractory headache conditions. He evaluates and treats sports-related concussions and persistent post-concussive symptoms.

De La Vara is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and a Diplomate of the American Academy of Neurology. He is a member of the American Headache Society and the International Headache Society. At UC Irvine, he provides clinical teaching for residents and medical students in outpatient neurology and headache clinics, and serves as an interviewer for headache division and general neurology faculty openings. He is contributing to the 4th edition of Sports Medicine: Study Guide and Review for the Boards with a chapter on sports neurology.

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Education

  • B.S. in Health promotion and disease prevention, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 2009
  • MD, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 2018
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Distinctions

  • Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, 2024
  • Diplomate, American Academy of Neurology, 2024
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Areas of Expertise

  • Headache Medicine
  • Sports Neurotrauma
  • Post-Traumatic Headache
  • Treatment Refractory Migraine
  • Concussion Management
  • Peripheral Nerve Hyperexcitability
  • Emergency Department Headache Patterns

Recent Publications

  • De La Vara D, Orlova Y, “Management of headache related adult emergency department visits before and during the COVID-19 pandemic”, 2023. Presented at American Headache Society, Austin, TX.
  • Bhakta B, Yang D, De La Vara D, Chui L, Adler M, “Peripheral Nerve Hyperexcitability syndromes: A case of Issac's syndrome”, 2022. Presented at Harbor UCLA research day.
  • Patel R, Kang S, Valeshabad AK, Shah BN, Han J, Gowhari M, Molokie RE, Xie K, Lash JP, Gordeuk VR, Saraf SL, “Kidney ultrasound findings according to kidney function in sickle cell anemia” (opens in new tab), Am J Hematol, vol. 94, no. 11, pp. E288-E291, 2019.
  • Kord Valeshabad A, De La Vara D, Shamim E, Alsadi A, Xie KL, “Lipoma arborescens of the bicipitoradial bursa” (opens in new tab), Skeletal Radiology, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 549-551, 2018.
  • Luciano, C., Gangemi, A., Lineberry, M., Villalta III, J.C., de la Vara, D., Yudkowsky, R., Giulianotti, P.C., “What would be the Role of Haptics if Incorporated in Robotic Surgery?”, 2015. Presented at 8th Annual ACS AEI Consortium Meeting, Chicago, IL.
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Contact Information

Email: ddelavar@uci.edu

Phone: (714) 456-6608

Address: 200 S. Manchester, Suite 206, Orange, CA 92868, Irvine, CA 92868

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This profile was created with the help of AI.

Last updated on 3/11/2026.