UCSF Department Of Medicine | Division of Geriatrics

Dr. Victor Valcour is an Assistant Professor with a shared appointment between the Division of Geriatric Medicine and the Department of Neurology. He has completed formal training in Internal Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, and Neurobehavior and currently sees patients at the Memory and Aging Center on the Parnassus campus of UCSF.

Victor is originally from Vermont and has traveled to Colorado, Hawaii and California to complete his training. He was an Associate Professor at the University of Hawaii, Department of Geriatric Medicine before joining the faculty in Geriatrics at UCSF in 2008. Victor has a long-standing interest in the care of frail elders, particularly those who are home-bound or in nursing homes. Although most of his current work focuses on dementia with a particular focus on dementia in aging HIV patients, he continues to make occasional home or nursing home visits for patients he cares for that transition to these environments.

Clinical Activities

Victor's clinical work focuses on the evaluation of patients with dementia. Within this specialty, his emphasis is on the evaluation of cognitive disorders in HIV and, separately, on the evaluation and treatment recommendations for cognitive disorders in the oldest old.

Research Activities

Dr. Valcour's research emphasis is on the cognitive complications of aging with HIV infection. As a consequence of success in HIV care, older HIV patients are more frequent, yet little is known about brain health in these aging individuals. Victor has received local and NIH funding to evaluate HIV patients over 60 years of age and is currently enrolling one of the first cohorts focused on this vulnerable population. This work is completed in collaboration with the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the Memory and Aging Center of UCSF (www.memory.ucsf.edu).

Prior to moving to UCSF, Victor assisted in the establishment of a satellite research office in Bangkok, Thailand known as the Southeast Asia Research Collaboration with Hawaii (SEARCH, www.SEARCHThailand.org). Victor continues to direct numerous research protocols with collaborators in this office addressing the metabolic, neurological, and cognitive consequences of HIV and its therapies. More recent work has begun to address the neurodevelopmental complications of HIV among children from Thailand and Cambodia.

Selected Publications

Valcour V, Shikuma C, Watters M, Sacktor N. Cognitive impairment in older HIV-1 seropositive individuals: prevalence, characteristics, and potential mechanisms. AIDS 2004; 18 (Suppl. 1): S79-86.
Valcour V, Shikuma C, Shiramizu B, et al. Higher frequency of dementia in older HIV+ individuals. The Hawaii Aging with HIV Cohort. Neurology 2004; 63(5): 822-27.
Valcour V, Shikuma C, Shiramizu B, et al. Age, apolipoprotein E4, and the risk of HIV dementia, The Hawaii Aging with HIV Cohort J Neuroimmunology 2004. 157 (1-2): 197-202.
Valcour V, Shikuma C, Shiramizu B, et al. Diabetes, insulin resistance, and dementia among HIV-1-infected patients. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2005. 38(1): 31-36.
Valcour V, Paul R. HIV Infection and Dementia in Older Adults. 2006 CID. May 15; 42(10): 1449-54.
Valcour V, Sithinamsuwan P, Nidhinandana S, Thitivichianlert S, Ratto-Kim S, Apateerapong W, Shiramizu B, deSouza M, Chitpatima S, Watt G, Chuenchitra T, Robertson K, Paul R, McArthur J, Kim J, Shikuma C for the Southeast Asia Research Collaboration with the University of Hawaii (SEARCH) 001 protocol team. Neuropsychological Abnormalities in Dementia Patients with CRF01_AE HIV-1 infection Neurology 2007. Feb13; 68(7):525-7.
Antinori A, Arendt G, Becker JT, Brew BJ, Byrd DA, Cherner M, Clifford DB, Cinque P, Epstein LG, Goodkin K, Gisslen M, Grant I, Heaton RK, Joseph J, Marder K, Marra CM, McArthur JC, Nunn M, Price RW, Pulliam L, Robertson KR, Sacktor N, Valcour V, Wojna VE. Updated research nosology for HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders. Neurology 2007 Oct 30;69(18):1789-99.
Valcour V, Watters M, Williams A, Sacktor N, McMurtray A, Shikuma C. Aging Exacerbates Extrapyramidal Motor Signs in the Era of HAART J Neurovirol. 2008 Nov 6:1-6.
Valcour V, Yeh T, Bartt R, Clifford D, Gerschenson M, Evans S, Cohen B, Hauer P, Millar L, Gould M, Tran P, Shikuma C, Souza S, McArthur J. Acetyl-L-Carnitine and NRTI-associated neuropathy in HIV-infection. HIV Medicine. 2009 Feb: 10(2): 103-110.
Valcour V, Shiramizu T, Sithinamsuwan P, Nidhinandana S, Ratto-Kim S, Ananworanich J, Siangphoe U, Kim J, de Souza M, Degruttola V, Paul R, Shikuma C for the Southeast Asia Research Collaboration with the University of Hawaii (SEARCH) 001 protocol team. HIV DNA and Cognition in a Longitudinal HAART Initiation Cohort from Thailand - The SEARCH 001 Cohort Study. Neurology. 2009 Mar 17;72(11):992-8.