Edgar Pierluissi, MD
Professor
Medicine
School of Medicine

Dr. Pierluissi has cared for vulnerable populations his entire career and is committed to healthcare quality improvement. He merged these interests as the founding Medical Director of the Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Unit at the San Francisco General Hospital. The SFGH adopted this model of care to meet the needs of a growing older population in San Francisco. Since opening in February, 2007, and expanding the unit in 2009, the Unit cares for over 1000 patients each year.

Dr. Pierluissi received his MD from Harvard Medical School and completed training and Chief Residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and a fellowship in Quality Improvement through the Veterans Affairs National Quality Scholars Fellowship. After training he worked for the County of San Mateo as a staff physician, as the medical director of the North County Health Center, and as VP for Quality Improvement. He joined the faculty of the UCSF Division of Geriatrics in 2006 and the SFGH Division of Hospital Medicine in 2008.

Education: 1981-85 University of Chicago, Chicago, IL B.A. 1986-91 Harvard Medical School M.D.

Training: 1991-94 University of California, San Francisco Medicine Residency 1994-95 University of California, San Francisco Chief Resident Medicine 1999-01 Veterans Affairs National Quality Scholars Fellow Quality Improvement Fellowship, San Francisco, California

Certification: 2011 Medical Licensure, California 1994 Certification, American Board of Internal Medicine 2004, 2014 Recertification, American Board of Internal Medicine

Memberships & Affiliations: American Geriatrics Society

• A Pharmacist-Led Program to Evaluate and Reduce Polypharmacy and Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing in Older HIV-Positive Patients.
  Pharmacotherapy 2017 McNicholl IR, Gandhi M, Hare CB, Greene M, Pierluissi E
• Specialty Care Access in the Safety Net-the Role of Public Hospitals and Health Systems.
  Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 2017 Makaroun LK, Bowman C, Duan K, Handley N, Wheeler DJ, Pierluissi E, Chen AH
• Hospitalization-Associated Disability in Adults Admitted to a Safety-Net Hospital.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2016 Pierluissi E
• Hospitalization-Associated Disability in Adults Admitted to a Safety-Net Hospital.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2015 Chodos AH, Kushel MB, Greysen SR, Guzman D, Kessell ER, Sarkar U, Goldman LE, Critchfield JM, Pierluissi E
• Acute Care for Elders.
  Geriatrics Models of Care 2015 Kellie L. Flood, Katrina Booth, Edgar Pierluissi, Ellen S. Danto-Nocton, Denise M. Kresevic, Robert M. Palmer
• Functional disability in late-middle-aged and older adults admitted to a safety-net hospital.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2014 Brown RT, Pierluissi E, Guzman D, Kessell ER, Goldman LE, Sarkar U, Schneidermann M, Critchfield JM, Kushel MB
• Support from hospital to home for elders: a randomized trial.
  Annals of internal medicine 2014 Goldman LE, Sarkar U, Kessell E, Guzman D, Schneidermann M, Pierluissi E, Walter B, Vittinghoff E, Critchfield J, Kushel M
• "Missing pieces"--functional, social, and environmental barriers to recovery for vulnerable older adults transitioning from hospital to home.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2014 Greysen SR, Hoi-Cheung D, Garcia V, Kessell E, Sarkar U, Goldman L, Schneidermann M, Critchfield J, Pierluissi E, Kushel M
• Development and sustainability of an inpatient-to-outpatient discharge handoff tool: a quality improvement project.
  Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety 2014 Moy NY, Lee SJ, Chan T, Grovey B, Boscardin WJ, Gonzales R, Pierluissi E
• Patient and Hospital Factors That Lead to Adverse Outcomes in Hospitalized Elders.
  Acute Care for Elders 2014 Edgar Pierluissi, Deborah C. Francis, Kenneth E. Covinsky
• Morbidity and mortality conferences: change you can believe in?
  Journal of graduate medical education 2012 Pierluissi E
• Depressive symptoms after hospitalization in older adults: function and mortality outcomes.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2012 Pierluissi E, Mehta KM, Kirby KA, Boscardin WJ, Fortinsky RH, Palmer RM, Landefeld CS
• Attitudes and expectations regarding exercise in the hospital of hospitalized older adults: a qualitative study.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2012 So C, Pierluissi E
• Depressive Symptoms after Hospitalization in Older Adults: Function and Mortality Outcomes. J Amer Ger Soc
  Depressive Symptoms after Hospitalization in Older Adults: Function and Mortality Outcomes. J Amer Ger Soc 2012 Pierluissi E, Mehta KM, Kirby KA, Boscardin WJ, Fortinsky RH, Palmer RM, Landefeld CS
• Hospitalization-associated disability: "She was probably able to ambulate, but I'm not sure".
  JAMA 2011 Covinsky KE, Pierluissi E, Johnston CB
• A clinical index to stratify hospitalized older adults according to risk for new-onset disability.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2011 Mehta KM, Pierluissi E, Boscardin WJ, Kirby KA, Walter LC, Chren MM, Palmer RM, Counsell SR, Landefeld CS
• Discussion of Medical Errors in Morbidity and Mortality Conferences.
  Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey 2004 Edgar Pierluissi, Melissa A. Fischer, Andre R. Campbell, C. Seth Landefeld
• Discussion of medical errors in morbidity and mortality conferences.
  JAMA 2003 Pierluissi E, Fischer MA, Campbell AR, Landefeld CS