William Sears (physician) - Life and Career

Life and Career

Sears was born in Alton, Illinois, the son of Lucille and Willard Sears, an engineer. His own father deserted the family, so one of his primary male adult influences was his grandfather.

Sears' residencies were taken at Children's Hospital Boston and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He is an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine.

He is a medical and parenting consultant for BabyTalk and Parenting magazines and the pediatrician on the website Parenting.com According to his biography, he has been a guest on more than 100 television shows including: 20/20, Donahue, Good Morning America, Oprah Winfrey, CBS This Morning, CNN, Today Show and Dateline.

According to his website, in 1997, Sears underwent major surgery for colon cancer, followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

Sears and his wife Martha have eight children, one of whom (Stephen) has Down Syndrome. Three of the children have also become doctors, Jim (the oldest) (The Doctors), Bob (second oldest), and Peter. A fourth son, Matt, is currently studying medicine at UC Irvine.

Sears and several of his family members are distributors and spokespersons for Juice Plus dietary supplements, which Sears promotes on his website. National Safety Associates (NSA), the company that markets Juice Plus, used testimonials from Bill Sears in advertisements promoting Juice Plus Gummies. In April 2005, the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division, in response to a consumer complaint, deemed that the ads misleadingly implied that the Gummies are low in sugar and are a nutritional alternative to fruits and vegetables. In response, NSA promised to modify its ads and stop claiming that the product is “the next best thing to fruits and vegetables”.

As of 2009, Sears lives with his family in San Clemente, California, and operates a private medical practice (Sears Family Pediatrics) in Capistrano Beach, California with his sons.