Nicole R. (Riza) Alba-Valencia MD (She/ella)

Summary

• Nicole Alba-Valencia, MD, is a psychiatrist based in San Jose, CA (SF Bay Area) who frequently visits family in LA, San Diego, and Mexico City. She is bilingual in English and Spanish, and multicultural. She treats adults and older teens at least 16 years old.
  
  As a psychiatrist, Dr. Nicole has worked in various settings including private practice, high-need clinics, residential, emergency, and hospital units.
  
  Dr. Nicole enjoys getting to know her patients/clients and what is important to them, and her priority is their health and wellbeing. In early-2025, Dr. Nicole opened Mente Sana - Healthy Mind Restorative Psychiatry, her primarily telehealth-based psychiatry private practice, where she strives to offer a safe, warm, detailed, personalized, and collaborative approach with her patients/clients.
  
  Dr. Nicole completed Psychiatry residency/subspecialty training in 2009, with combined training at Harbor-UCLA for her final years, after a couple years at Stanford. She graduated UCSF School of Medicine in 2004. Prior to that, she completed pre-medical coursework at UC Berkeley, after her undergraduate years at UCSD where she majored in psychology, with additional coursework emphasizing human diversity and civil rights.
  
  During her personal time, Dr. Nicole enjoys being with family and friends, having alone time, being in nature (walking, hiking, swimming), and the arts (music, dance, photography, books, movies, painting).