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350 Parnassus, Rm 908 UCSF Box 0378 San Francisco, CA 94117

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David Sears, MD

Professor

David Sears is a Professor of Medicine and a specialist in infectious diseases. He provides primary care to people with HIV in UCSF’s 360: Positive Care Center and attends on the infectious diseases inpatient consult service at UCSF Health and the internal medicine wards at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. As a clinician educator, David has a particular passion for capacity building to strengthen the HIV primary care workforce locally and abroad. He is the Site Director of the HIV Continuity Clinic for the Infectious Diseases Fellowship at UCSF Health where he leads the 360 Clinic’s educational programs. He currently collaborates with the Vietnam Administration of Disease Prevention to strengthen HIV treatment and educational programs, and he recently served as the Senior Medical Education Lead for the Strengthening Interprofessional Education to Improve HIV Care Across Africa (STRIPE) program. Through STRIPE, he worked with interprofessional teams from health professions schools across sub-Saharan Africa to implement and evaluate HIV training programs that reached over 20,000 learners.

David is a member of the Academy of Medical Educators (AME) and a prior recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award from the AME and the Vince Pons Award in Clinical Teaching from the Division of Infectious Diseases. He serves as the Director of the Department of Medicine Medical Student Electives and the Director of the Infectious Diseases electives for medical students and residents at UCSF Health. He was previously the Associate Program Director for the Infectious Diseases Fellowship at Harbor UCLA Medical Center.

Outside of medical education, David’s work focuses on improving the health of people who live and work in prisons and jails through improved health care delivery, reforming conditions of confinement, and advocating for an end to mass incarceration policies. He is the Director of Healthcare Quality for Amend at UCSF where he studies healthcare oversight and quality evaluation in carceral settings with an aim to inform policy and effect meaningful change. Previously, he co-directed a cross-university research collaboration (CalPROTECT) examining how California prisons could better respond to the threat of COVID-19 and he has evaluated the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) patient safety and quality assessment programs. He has provided expert testimony to the California State Senate Committee on Public Safety, consulted on draft legislation for the U.S. Senate, prepared independent reports for California’s Federal Receiver for Inmate Services, and presented on carceral health to the National Governor’s Association.

David completed medical school at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University, internal medicine residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital – Columbia, and infectious diseases fellowship at UCSF.
Education
2018 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California
Fellowship, 2013 - Infectious Diseases, University of California San Francisco
Residency, 2010 - Internal Medicine, New York Presbyterian Hospital - Columbia
M.D., 2007 - , Alpert Medical School at Brown University
Honors and Awards
  • Vince G. Pons Award in Clinical Teaching, UCSF Infectious Diseases Fellowship, 2022
  • Excellence in Teaching Award, UCSF Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators, 2019
Websites
  • Amend at UCSF
Publications
  1. Manoko Lediga, Ian Couper, Shayanne Martin, Michael Reid, Edward Dassah, Miliard Derbew, Marietjie de Villiers, Maeve Forster, Onesmus Gachuno, Clara Haruzivishe, Abigail Kazembe, Keneilwe Motlhatlhedi, Nisha Nadesan-Reddy, Catherine Ngoma, Georgina Odaibo, Fatima Suleman, Deborah von Zinkernagel, David Sears. Learners’ perspectives on training for HIV management in sub-Saharan Africa: Insights from the AFREhealth HIV project. 2025. PMID:


  2. Sophia T Tan, Isabel Rodríguez-Barraquer, Ada T Kwan, Seth Blumberg, Justine Hutchinson, David Leidner, Joseph A Lewnard, David Sears, Nathan C Lo. P-2342. Dynamics of indirect protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection through vaccine- and infection-acquired immunity. 2025. PMID:


  3. Tan ST, Rodríguez-Barraquer I, Kwan AT, Blumberg S, Park HJ, Hutchinson J, Leidner D, Lewnard JA, Sears D, Lo NC. Strength and durability of indirect protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection through vaccine and infection-acquired immunity. 2025. PMID: 39881133


  4. Khanyola J, Reid M, Dadasovich R, Derbew M, Couper I, Dassah ET, Forster M, Gachuno O, Haruzivishe C, Kazembe A, Martin S, Moltwantwa M, Motlhatlhedi K, Mteta KA, Nadesan-Reddy N, Suleman F, Ngoma C, Odaibo GN, Mubuuke R, von Zinkernagel D, Kiguli-Malwadde E, Sears D. Improving interprofessional collaboration: building confidence using a novel HIV curriculum for healthcare workers across sub-Saharan africa. 2024. PMID: 39092781


  5. Haber LA, Sears D, Williams BA. Medicaid for Medical-Correctional Care: Time to Manage What is Reimbursed. 2024. PMID: 38831244


  6. Fung M, La Hoz RM, Durand CM, Lee DH, Sears D, Hohe C, Chin-Hong P, Roberts JP. Successful Living Donor Liver Transplant from Donor with False-Positive HIV Test in Recipient without HIV. 2024. PMID: 38705516


  7. Archer H, McCoy SI, Sears D, Kwan A, Kuersten M, Lewnard JA, Bertozzi SM. Indirect vaccine effectiveness in an outbreak of Alpha B.1.1.7 variant in a California state Prison, May 2021. 2024. PMID: 38584059


  8. Sklar R, Noth E, Kwan A, Sear D, Bertozzi S. Ventilation conditions during COVID-19 outbreaks in six California state carceral institutions. 2023. PMID: 37934737


  9. Kiguli-Malwadde E, Forster M, Eliaz A, Celentano J, Chilembe E, Couper ID, Dassah ET, De Villiers MR, Gachuno O, Haruzivishe C, Khanyola J, Martin S, Motlhatlhedi K, Mubuuke R, Mteta KA, Moabi P, Rodrigues A, Sears D, Semitala F, von Zinkernagel D, Reid MJA, Suleman F. Comparing in-person, blended and virtual training interventions; a real-world evaluation of HIV capacity building programs in 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. 2023. PMID: 37486898


  10. Tan ST, Kwan AT, Rodríguez-Barraquer I, Singer BJ, Park HJ, Lewnard JA, Sears D, Lo NC. Infectiousness of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections and reinfections during the Omicron wave. 2023. PMID: 36593393


  11. Kwan A, Garcia-Grossman I, Sears D, Bertozzi SM, Williams BA. The Impact Of COVID-19 On The Health Of Incarcerated Older Adults In California State Prisons. 2022. PMID: 35914202


  12. Kiguli-Malwadde E, Forster M, Martin S, Chilemba E, Couper I, Motlhatlhedi K, Celentano J, Haruzivishe C, Sears D, Budak JZ, Khanyola JN, Von Zinkernagel D, Molwantwa M, Semitala F, de Villiers M, Reid M, Kazembe A. Evaluating the impact of a multicountry interprofessional training programme to improve HIV knowledge and clinical confidence among healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa: a cohort study. 2022. PMID: 35858724


  13. Blumberg S, Lu P, Kwan AT, Hoover CM, Lloyd-Smith JO, Sears D, Bertozzi SM, Worden L. Modeling scenarios for mitigating outbreaks in congregate settings. 2022. PMID: 35857774


  14. Kwan A, Sklar R, Cameron DB, Schell RC, Bertozzi SM, McCoy SI, Williams B, Sears DA. Respiratory pandemic preparedness learnings from the June 2020 COVID-19 outbreak at San Quentin California State Prison. 2022. PMID: 35678718


  15. Budak JZ, Sears DA, Wood BR, Spach DH, Armstrong WS, Dhanireddy S, Teherani A, Schwartz BS. HIV Training Pathways in Residency: A National Survey of Curricula and Outcomes. 2020. PMID: 32211781


  16. Schnittman SR, Zepf R, Cocohoba J, Sears D. Heplisav-B Seroprotection in People with HIV: A Single-Center Experience. 2020. PMID: 33196553


  17. Sears D, Ahalt C, Augustine D, Williams B. Occupational Health: A Key to the Control of COVID-19 in Correctional Facilities. 2020. PMID: 32716628


  18. Cloud DH, Ahalt C, Augustine D, Sears D, Williams B. Medical Isolation and Solitary Confinement: Balancing Health and Humanity in US Jails and Prisons During COVID-19. 2020. PMID: 32632787


  19. Williams B, Ahalt C, Cloud D, Augustine D, Rorvig L, Sears D.. Health Affairs Blog 2020. PMID:


  20. Kim N, Welty S, Reza T, Sears D, McFarland W, Raymond HF. Undiagnosed and Untreated HIV Infection Among Persons Who Inject Drugs: Results of Three National HIV Behavioral Surveillance Surveys, San Francisco, 2009-2015. 2018. PMID: 30259347


  21. Sears D, Schwartz BS. Candida auris: An emerging multidrug-resistant pathogen. 2017. PMID: 28888662


  22. Spier AB, Kurtz J, Sears D. A novel case of lymphangiomatosis in HIV. 2017. PMID: 28189546


  23. Sserwanga A, Sears D, Kapella BK, Kigozi R, Rubahika D, Staedke SG, Kamya M, Yoon SS, Chang MA, Dorsey G, Mpimbaza A. Anti-malarial prescription practices among children admitted to six public hospitals in Uganda from 2011 to 2013. 2015. PMID: 26306395


  24. Mpimbaza A, Sears D, Sserwanga A, Kigozi R, Rubahika D, Nadler A, Yeka A, Dorsey G. Admission Risk Score to Predict Inpatient Pediatric Mortality at Four Public Hospitals in Uganda. 2015. PMID: 26218274


  25. Sears D, Mpimbaza A, Kigozi R, Sserwanga A, Chang MA, Kapella BK, Yoon S, Kamya MR, Dorsey G, Ruel T. Quality of inpatient pediatric case management for four leading causes of child mortality at six government-run Ugandan hospitals. Volume 10 of Issue 5. 2015. PMID: 25992620


  26. Sears D, Daar ES. Encyclopedia of AIDS; Hope TJ, Stevenson M, Richman D, editors 2015. PMID:


  27. Sears D, Kigozi R, Mpimbaza A, Kakeeto S, Sserwanga A, Staedke SG, Chang M, Kapella BK, Rubahika D, Kamya MR, Dorsey G. Anti-malarial prescription practices among outpatients with laboratory-confirmed malaria in the setting of a health facility-based sentinel site surveillance system in Uganda. Volume 12. 2013. PMID: 23870515


  28. Neuberg GW, Stephenson KE, Sears DA, McConnell RJ. Internet-enabled thyroid hormone abuse. 2009. PMID: 19124828


  29. Sears D, Cabrera-Rodriguez C, Ortiz-Mejia F, Anderson B, Stein M. Sexual risk behaviour among HIV-positive patients at an urban clinic in Santiago, Dominican Republic. 2008. PMID: 18293128


  30. Sears D. Perspectives from Brown medical students and a medical resident. The Warren Alpert medical school in the Dominican Republic. 2007. PMID: 18092485


  31. Qiao C, Xu L, Wang Z. [Pharmacognostical studies on the root and rhizome of Globba racemosa]. 2001. PMID: 12587156


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