Mohsen Malekinejad, MD, MPH, DrPH
Associate Professor
Epidemiology & Biostatistics
School of Medicine

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I led California's COVID-19 Exposure Notification system at the California Department of Public Health, driving innovative digital solutions to mitigate the spread of the virus.

With 20 years of public health experience, my expertise encompasses evidence-based medicine, systematic reviews, and translating research evidence into policy and practice. My work includes rigorous evaluations of interventions for substance use disorders, HIV, HCV, and other serious infectious diseases. I specialize in methods for sampling and recruiting hard-to-reach populations for disease screening and research studies, including HIV bio-behavioral epidemiologic surveillance surveys. My research focuses on addressing health disparities among marginalized and disadvantaged populations in various global settings. As a principal investigator or project director, I have successfully led numerous public health projects funded by prominent institutions such as the NIH and WHO. In addition to my research, I have over a decade of experience teaching graduate and postgraduate public health courses, maintaining a strong commitment to ethical and professional standards in all my work.

• Defining Key Performance Indicators for the California COVID-19 Exposure Notification System (CA Notify).
  Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) 2022 Aronoff-Spencer E, Nebeker C, Wenzel AT, Nguyen K, Kunowski R, Zhu M, Adamos G, Goyal R, Mazrouee S, Reyes A, May N, Howard H, Longhurst CA, Malekinejad M
• Barriers and Facilitators to Substance Use Disorder Treatment: An Overview of Systematic Reviews.
  Substance abuse : research and treatment 2022 Farhoudian A, Razaghi E, Hooshyari Z, Noroozi A, Pilevari A, Mokri A, Mohammadi MR, Malekinejad M
• Viral blood-borne infections testing and linkage to care cascade among persons who experience homelessness in the United States: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
  BMC public health 2022 Saha R, Miller AP, Parriott A, Horvath H, Kahn JG, Malekinejad M
• Indirect COVID-19 health effects and potential mitigating interventions: Cost-effectiveness framework.
  PloS one 2022 Maya S, Kahn JG, Lin TK, Jacobs LM, Schmidt LA, Burrough WB, Ghasemzadeh R, Mousli L, Allan M, Donovan M, Barker E, Horvath H, Spetz J, Brindis CD, Malekinejad M
• Sexual Practice Changes Post-HIV Diagnosis Among Men Who Have Sex with Men in the United States: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
  AIDS and behavior 2022 Malekinejad M, Jimsheleishvili S, Barker EK, Hutchinson AB, Shrestha RK, Volberding P, Kahn JG
• Risk of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Acquisition Among High-Risk Heterosexuals With Nonviral Sexually Transmitted Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
  Sexually transmitted diseases 2022 Barker EK, Malekinejad M, Merai R, Lyles CM, Sipe TA, DeLuca JB, Ridpath AD, Gift TL, Tailor A, Kahn JG
• Risk of HIV Acquisition Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Infected With Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
  Sexually transmitted diseases 2021 Malekinejad M, Barker EK, Merai R, Lyles CM, Bernstein KT, Sipe TA, DeLuca JB, Ridpath AD, Gift TL, Tailor A, Kahn JG
• The yield of tuberculosis contact investigation in low- and middle-income settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
  BMC infectious diseases 2021 Velleca M, Malekinejad M, Miller C, Abascal Miguel L, Reeves H, Hopewell P, Fair E
• Clarification Regarding "Outdoor Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and Other Respiratory Viruses: A Systematic Review".
  The Journal of infectious diseases 2021 Razani N, Malekinejad M, Rutherford GW
• Hepatitis B prevalence association with sexually transmitted infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
  Sexual health 2021 Marseille E, Harris AM, Horvath H, Parriott A, Malekinejad M, Nelson NP, Van Handel M, Kahn JG
• Policy Mapping Analysis of Adverse Childhood Experiences Prevention Policies in California.
  Pediatrics 2021 Aishwarya Thakur, Mohsen Malekinejad
• Outdoor Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and Other Respiratory Viruses: A Systematic Review.
  The Journal of infectious diseases 2021 Bulfone TC, Malekinejad M, Rutherford GW, Razani N
• Change in Condom Use in Populations Newly Aware of HIV Diagnosis in the United States and Canada: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
  AIDS and behavior 2021 Malekinejad M, Blodgett J, Horvath H, Parriott A, Hutchinson AB, Shrestha RK, McCabe D, Volberding P, Kahn JG
• Healthcare facility-based strategies to improve tuberculosis testing and linkage to care in non-U.S.-born population in the United States: A systematic review.
  PloS one 2019 Miller AP, Malekinejad M, Horváth H, Blodgett JC, Kahn JG, Marks SM
• The discordance between evidence and health policy in the United States: the science of translational research and the critical role of diverse stakeholders.
  Health research policy and systems 2018 Malekinejad M, Horvath H, Snyder H, Brindis CD
• Yield of testing and treatment for tuberculosis among foreign-born persons during contact investigations in the United States: A semi-systematic review.
  PloS one 2018 Parriott A, Malekinejad M, Miller AP, Horvath H, Marks SM, Kahn JG
• Effectiveness of School-Based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs in the USA: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
  Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research 2018 Marseille E, Mirzazadeh A, Biggs MA, P Miller A, Horvath H, Lightfoot M, Malekinejad M, Kahn JG
• Care Cascade for targeted tuberculosis testing and linkage to Care in Homeless Populations in the United States: a meta-analysis.
  BMC public health 2018 Parriott A, Malekinejad M, Miller AP, Marks SM, Horvath H, Kahn JG
• Factors Influencing Transition to Shisheh (Methamphetamine) among Young People Who Use Drugs in Tehran: A Qualitative Study.
  Journal of psychoactive drugs 2018 Noroozi A, Malekinejad M, Rahimi-Movaghar A
• Yield of community-based tuberculosis targeted testing and treatment in foreign-born populations in the United States: A systematic review.
  PloS one 2017 Malekinejad M, Parriott A, Viitanen AP, Horvath H, Marks SM, Kahn JG
• Effectiveness of community-based condom distribution interventions to prevent HIV in the United States: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
  PloS one 2017 Malekinejad M, Parriott A, Blodgett JC, Horvath H, Shrestha RK, Hutchinson AB, Volberding P, Kahn JG
• Transition to and Away from Injecting Drug Use among Young Drug Users in Tehran, Iran: A Qualitative Study.
  Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences 2016 Afarin Rahimi-Movaghar, Alireza Noroozi, Kimberly Page, Minoo Mohraz, William McFarland, Hossein Malekafzali, Mohsen Malekinejad
• Transition to and Away from Injecting Drug Use among Young Drug Users in Tehran, Iran: A Qualitative Study.
  Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences 2016 Afarin Rahimi-Movaghar, Alireza Noroozi, Kimberly Page, Minoo Mohraz, William McFarland, Hossein Malekafzali, Mohsen Malekinejad
• Effectiveness of Policies on Reducing Exposure to Ionizing Radiation From Medical Imaging: A Systematic Review.
  Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR 2015 Thaker A, Navadeh S, Gonzales H, Malekinejad M
• High hepatitis C virus prevalence among drug users in Iran: systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological evidence (2001-2012).
  International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases 2015 Malekinejad M, Navadeh S, Lotfizadeh A, Rahimi-Movaghar A, Amin-Esmaeili M, Noroozi A
• Transition to injecting drug use in Iran: A systematic review of qualitative and quantitative evidence.
  The International journal on drug policy 2015 Rahimi-Movaghar A, Amin-Esmaeili M, Shadloo B, Noroozi A, Malekinejad M
• High HIV prevalence in a respondent-driven sampling survey of injection drug users in Tehran, Iran.
  AIDS and behavior 2015 Malekinejad M, Mohraz M, Razani N, Akbari G, McFarland W, Khairandish P, Malekafzali H, Gouya MM, Zarghami A, Rutherford GW
• Relative risk reduction is useful metric to standardize effect size for public heath interventions for translational research.
  Journal of clinical epidemiology 2014 Mirzazadeh A, Malekinejad M, Kahn JG
• Factors influencing the external validity of the evidence of HIV counseling and testing data in global health settings.
  Annals of Global Health 2014 E. Marseilli, A. Mirzazadeh, M. Malekinejad, J. Kahn, A.J. Goodell
• Visualizing the effect of needle exchange program scale-up in the Russian Federation: Findings from our web-based modeling tool.
  Annals of Global Health 2014 A. Goodell, M. Malekinejad, A. Mirzazadeh, B. Harris, E. Marseille, J. Kahn
• Access to harm reduction programs among persons who inject drugs: findings from a respondent-driven sampling survey in Tehran, Iran.
  The International journal on drug policy 2014 Rahnama R, Mohraz M, Mirzazadeh A, Rutherford G, McFarland W, Akbari G, Malekinejad M
• Transition to injection amongst opioid users in Iran: implications for harm reduction.
  The International journal on drug policy 2011 Malekinejad M, Vazirian M
• Accessing a diverse sample of injection drug users in San Francisco through respondent-driven sampling.
  Drug and alcohol dependence 2011 Malekinejad M, McFarland W, Vaudrey J, Raymond HF
• Comparing respondent-driven sampling and targeted sampling methods of recruiting injection drug users in San Francisco.
  Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 2010 Kral AH, Malekinejad M, Vaudrey J, Martinez AN, Lorvick J, McFarland W, Raymond HF
• Implementation Challenges to Using Respondent-Driven Sampling Methodology for HIV Biological and Behavioral Surveillance: Field Experiences in International Settings.
  AIDS and Behavior 2009 Lisa Grazina Johnston, Mohsen Malekinejad, Carl Kendall, Irene M. Iuppa, George W. Rutherford
• Using respondent-driven sampling methodology for HIV biological and behavioral surveillance in international settings: a systematic review.
  AIDS and behavior 2008 Malekinejad M, Johnston LG, Kendall C, Kerr LR, Rifkin MR, Rutherford GW
• Implementation challenges to using respondent-driven sampling methodology for HIV biological and behavioral surveillance: field experiences in international settings.
  AIDS and behavior 2008 Johnston LG, Malekinejad M, Kendall C, Iuppa IM, Rutherford GW
• Injection drug use in Rural Iran: integrating HIV prevention into iran's rural primary health care system.
  AIDS and behavior 2008 Mojtahedzadeh V, Razani N, Malekinejad M, Vazirian M, Shoaee S, Saberi Zafarghandi MB, Hernandez AL, Mandel JS
• HIV risk behavior among injection drug users in Tehran, Iran.
  Addiction (Abingdon, England) 2007 Razani N, Mohraz M, Kheirandish P, Malekinejad M, Malekafzali H, Mokri A, McFarland W, Rutherford G