Jeffrey Critchfield, MD
Professor
Medicine
School of Medicine

In the initial stages of my career, I focused on the basic science of T-lymphocyte regulation in laboratories at the NIH and UCSF. I then transitioned to a faculty position at the General, where I held leadership roles with trainees, faculty, and SFDPH staff centered on improving the care of hospitalized patients across the care continuum and into the community. During this time, I served as Chief of Staff for the Medical Staff, Medical Director of Risk Management, Chief Medical Experience Officer, and the founding Chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine.

In 2025, I accepted the role of Vice-Dean, UCSF School of Medicine at the General. The Vice-Dean’s office is at the center of UCSF’s partnership with the City and County of San Francisco initiated in 1873. I cherish our 150+ year collaboration between a premier academic institution and an iconic public institution, a partnership heralded across the USA and the globe. We have 3,000 UCSF faculty and staff working at the General. We host trainees from all four UCSF Professional Schools, with nearly a third of UCSF’s learners on our campus each day. I have an abiding belief in the ability of the collective to bring forward spirit and action, uplifting patients, their loved ones, and the people here who partner with them. This belief is central to my activities as the Vice-Dean for the UCSF SOM at the General.

Education:

• MD, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 1988-1994
• BAS, Classics, Biology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, 1983-1987

Training:

• Internship, Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 1994-1995
• Residency, Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 1995-1996
• Fellowship, Rheumatology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 1996-1997
• Chief Residency, Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 1997-1998
• Fellowship, Rheumatology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 1998-1999
• Post-doc, Rheumatology University of California, San Francisco, CA 1999-2001

Certification:

• Medical License, Medical Board of California, #A60018, 1996
• Internal Medicine, Recertified, 2012, participant in Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment

Memberships & Affiliations:

• Member, Society for Hospital Medicine
• Member, America's Essential Hospitals -

• Diagnostic Scheming.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2015 Martin M, Sedighi Manesh R, Henderson MC, Critchfield JM
• 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
• Failure of atorvastatin to modulate CSF HIV-1 infection: results of a pilot study.
  Neurology 2008 Probasco JC, Spudich SS, Critchfield J, Lee E, Lollo N, Deeks SG, Price RW
• Interpretation of serologic tests in an HIV-infected patient with kidney disease.
  Nature clinical practice. Nephrology 2006 Hernandez GT, Critchfield JM, Rodriguez RA
• Reducing unnecessary inpatient laboratory testing in a teaching hospital.
  American journal of clinical pathology 2006 May TA, Clancy M, Critchfield J, Ebeling F, Enriquez A, Gallagher C, Genevro J, Kloo J, Lewis P, Smith R, Ng VL
• Treating the latent reservoir of HIV.
  The AIDS reader 2004 Critchfield JM, Deeks SG
• Intravenous antigen administration as a therapy for autoimmune demyelinating disease
  Annals of Neurology 1996 Racke, M; Critchfield, JM; Quigley, L; McFarland, H.; Lenardo, MJ
• Antigen-Induced Programmed T Cell Death as a New Approach to Immune Therapy
  Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology 1995 Critchfield, JM; Lenardo, MJ
• Parameters controlling the programmed death of mature mouse T lymphocytes in high-dose suppression
  Cellular Immunology 1995 Jeffrey M. Critchfield Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker Michael Lenardo
• T cell deletion in high antigen dose therapy of autoimmune encephalomyelitis
  Science 1994 J M Critchfield, M K Racke, J C Zúñiga-Pflücker, B Cannella, C S Raine, J Goverman, M J Lenardo