Josette Rivera, MD

Professor

Josette Rivera is a Professor of Medicine and a clinician educator in the UCSF Division of Geriatrics. She received her medical degree from the University of Rochester and completed residency training in Primary Care Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview, followed by a clinical and research fellowship in the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at Johns Hopkins. At the conclusion of fellowship, Dr. Rivera became a staff physician at On Lok Lifeways, a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, which serves nursing home eligible seniors in the San Francisco area. Dr. Rivera joined the UCSF Division of Geriatrics in 2008, where she serves as an educator, program leader, and clinician.

Clinical Activities
Dr. Rivera is board certified in geriatric medicine and hospice and palliative medicine. She provides primary and palliative care to homebound older adults through the UCSF Care at Home Program. This program serves patients throughout San Francisco, many of whom have not previously received primary medical care for years. Dr. Rivera teaches medical students, residents, and fellows how to do a home visit and related elements of geriatric care within this context, including assessment of functional status, care coordination, and establishing a patient's goals of care. Her goal is to ensure that trainees understand the unique needs of and resources for homebound older adults.

Academic Focus
Dr. Rivera’s educational and research endeavors focus on interprofessional education and practice, particularly in the context of caring for older adults. She co-leads the School of Medicine’s collaborations with the campus-wide UCSF Program in Interprofessional Practice & Education, and is developing interprofessional curricula, assessment tools, and faculty development opportunities. As a past recipient of a Geriatric Academic Career Award, co-PI of the Reynolds Foundation Next Steps Grant, Deputy Director of the Northern California Geriatric Education Center, and currently PI of the UCSF Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) Dr. Rivera has developed programs and curricula to train health professions faculty, students, and community practitioners to provide optimal interprofessional health care for older adults. She is also the founding chair of the American Geriatrics Society Interprofessional Education and Practice Special Interest Group.

Education
2017 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California
Geriatrics Fellowship, 2007 - School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins
Residency, Internal Medicine, 2004 - School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview
M.D., 2001 - School of Medicine, University of Rochester
Honors and Awards
  • Outstanding Service Award, UCSF Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators, 2016
  • Induction, UCSF Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators, 2015
  • Excellence in Teaching Award, UCSF Academy of Medical Educators, 2012
  • Hartford Foundation Center of Excellence Faculty Scholar, 2012
Websites
Publications
  1. O'Brien BC, Collins S, Haddock LM, Sani S, Rivera JA. More Than Maintaining Competence: A Qualitative Study of How Physicians Conceptualize and Engage in Lifelong Learning. Perspectives on medical education 2024. PMID: 38974779


  2. Haddock L, Rivera J, O'Brien BC. Learning Together: Co-Learning Among Faculty and Trainees in the Clinical Workplace. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2022. PMID: 35830270


  3. Rivera J, O'Brien B, Wamsley M. "Getting Out of That Siloed Mentality Early": A Qualitative Study of Interprofessional Learning in a Longitudinal Placement for Early Medical Students. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2019. PMID: 31274523


  4. Rivera J, de Lisser R, Dhruva A, Fitzsimmons A, Hyde S, Reddy S, Tsourounis C, Adler SR. Integrative Health: An Interprofessional Standardized Patient Case for Prelicensure Learners. MedEdPORTAL : the journal of teaching and learning resources 2018. PMID: 30800915


  5. O'Brien BC, Little JW, Wamsley M, Cook JG, Yuan P, Rivera J, Cianciolo AT, Dahlgren MA, Ng SL, Stillsmoking KL. Emergent is Authentic: A Sociomaterial Perspective on Simulation-Enhanced Interprofessional Education. Teaching and learning in medicine 2017. PMID: 29020519


  6. Brown RT, Ahalt C, Rivera J, Stijacic Cenzer I, Wilhelm A, Williams BA. Good Cop, Better Cop: Evaluation of a Geriatrics Training Program for Police. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2017. PMID: 28436006


  7. Reeves S, Fletcher S, Barr H, Birch I, Boet S, Davies N, McFadyen A, Rivera J, Kitto S. A BEME systematic review of the effects of interprofessional education: BEME Guide No. 39. Medical teacher 2016. PMID: 27146438


  8. Rivera JA, O'Hare AM, Harper GM. Update on the management of chronic kidney disease. American family physician 2012. PMID: 23062158


  9. Rivera JA, Fried LP, Weiss CO, Simonsick EM. At the tipping point: predicting severe mobility difficulty in vulnerable older women. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2008. PMID: 18808598


  10. Rivera JA, Levine RB, Wright SM. Completing a scholarly project during residency training. Perspectives of residents who have been successful. Journal of general internal medicine 2005. PMID: 15857496