Samuel Sears, Jr. Ph.D

Samuel F. Sears, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Cardiovascular Sciences at East Carolina University. Dr. Sears serves as the Division Chief of Innovation and Research at the East Carolina Heart Institute. He also serves as an Assistant Program Director of the ECU Cardiology Fellowship. Dr. Sears has published over 200 articles in the medicine and psychology research literatures and has well over 13, 000 citations. In 2025, Dr. Sears was named a “world expert” on Defibrillators and ranked 11th all-time in research contributions to the field among the 24, 000 authors on the topic. He was also ranked 42nd all-time in his contributions to Cardiac Electrophysiology. He is the senior author of both the Florida Shock Anxiety Scale and the Florida Patient Acceptance Survey while at the University of Florida. These scales are among the most commonly used metrics in patient outcomes research with ICD patients. Dr. Sears was also awarded the O. Max Gardner Award in 2013 by the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina system. This award is considered the highest honor bestowed to a faculty member in the UNC system. Dr. Sears continues to practice and teach health psychology in cardiology clinics at the East Carolina Heart Institute at East Carolina University since 2007. He previously served as an Associate Professor at the University of Florida from 1995-2007. Dr. Sears received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. (1995) in clinical health psychology from the University of Florida. He is board certified in clinical health psychology (ABPP).