Mohsen Malekinejad, MD, MPH, DrPH

As an Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Global Health at UCSF, and the director of the Center for Resilient Societies and Technology (CREST), I am dedicated to advancing public health through technology and research. I am a core member of the RESILIENT network at the University of California, a collaborative effort aimed at convergent pandemic intelligence and community resilience hosted by UCSD. 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.

Publications: 

Digital exposure notification tools: A global landscape analysis.

PLOS digital health

Nebeker C, Kareem D, Yong A, Kunowski R, Malekinejad M, Aronoff-Spencer E

Exposure notification system activity as a leading indicator for SARS-COV-2 caseload forecasting.

PloS one

Aronoff-Spencer E, Mazrouee S, Graham R, Handcock MS, Nguyen K, Nebeker C, Malekinejad M, Longhurst CA

Identification of the socio-cultural barriers of drug addiction treatment in Iran.

Heliyon

Razaghi E, Farhoudian A, Pilevari A, Noroozi A, Hooshyari Z, Radfar R, Malekinejad M

Interventions to enhance psychological resilience in forcibly displaced children: a systematic review.

BMJ global health

Thabet A, Ghandi S, Barker EK, Rutherford G, Malekinejad M

Defining Key Performance Indicators for the California COVID-19 Exposure Notification System (CA Notify).

Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974)

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

Farhoudian A, Razaghi E, Hooshyari Z, Noroozi A, Pilevari A, Mokri A, Mohammadi MR, Malekinejad M

Indirect COVID-19 health effects and potential mitigating interventions: Cost-effectiveness framework.

PloS one

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

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

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

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

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

Razani N, Malekinejad M, Rutherford GW

Hepatitis B prevalence association with sexually transmitted infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Sexual health

Marseille E, Harris AM, Horvath H, Parriott A, Malekinejad M, Nelson NP, Van Handel M, Kahn JG

Outdoor Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and Other Respiratory Viruses, a Systematic Review.

The Journal of infectious diseases

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

Malekinejad M, Blodgett J, Horvath H, Parriott A, Hutchinson AB, Shrestha RK, McCabe D, Volberding P, 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

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

Parriott A, Malekinejad M, Miller AP, Marks SM, Horvath H, Kahn JG

Effectiveness of community-based condom distribution interventions to prevent HIV in the United States: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PloS one

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

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

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

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

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

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

Malekinejad M, Mohraz M, Razani N, Akbari G, McFarland W, Khairandish P, Malekafzali H, Gouya MM, Zarghami A, Rutherford GW

Factors influencing the external validity of the evidence of HIV counseling and testing data in global health settings.

Annals of Global Health

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

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

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

Malekinejad M, Vazirian M

Accessing a diverse sample of injection drug users in San Francisco through respondent-driven sampling.

Drug and alcohol dependence

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

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

Lisa Grazina Johnston, Mohsen Malekinejad, Carl Kendall, Irene M. Iuppa, George W. Rutherford

Injection drug use in Rural Iran: integrating HIV prevention into iran's rural primary health care system.

AIDS and behavior

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)

Razani N, Mohraz M, Kheirandish P, Malekinejad M, Malekafzali H, Mokri A, McFarland W, Rutherford G