James F. Smith, MD, MS is the Director of Male Reproductive Health and an Associate Professor, Departments of Urology; Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences; and Health Policy at UCSF. Dr. Smith received his undergraduate training from the University of California, Berkeley, where he obtained a degree in molecular biology with high honors. He subsequently graduated from UCSF’s School of Medicine, earning a master's degree in 2000 and a medical degree in 2002. Dr. Smith completed general surgery and urology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and returned to UCSF as an andrology fellow from 2007-2009. Since 2009, Dr. Smith has been Director of Male Reproductive Health at UCSF providing male and transgender female fertility preservation counseling and treatment. He treats patients with azoospermia, oligoasthenospermia, desire for vasectomy, hypogonadism and transgender testosterone replacement, and erectile dysfunction. He specializes in the use of minimally invasive vasectomy, microsurgical vasectomy reversal, sperm retrieval techniques, spermatic cord denervation, and varicocele repair.
Dr. Smith’s NIH-supported research centers on his desire to help patients become parents after facing fertility threatening treatment. With his collaborators, he investigates sperm motility, spermatogenesis, and semen physiology; conducts translational research focused on fertility preservation and restoration; and seeks to identify and break down barriers to accessing reproductive care, with special interest in the barriers patients face when attempting to utilize these services.
Dr. Smith is very active within the reproductive community and currently serves as Treasurer for the Society for Study of Male Reproduction (SSMR) and Director at Large for SMRU (Society Male Reproductive Urology) and is the current Chair of the ASRM Fertility Preservation special interest group.
In line with his focus on reducing barriers to care, Dr. Smith is passionate about ensuring transgender women and non-binary persons who were assigned male at birth have access to a broad range of reproductive and fertility preservation options, including sperm storage and special techniques to improve fertility in those with a history of feminizing hormone use. Dr. Smith also performs gender affirming orchiectomies.