William Sears (physician)


William Penton Sears is an American pediatrician and the author or co-author of parenting books. He has been a guest on various television talkshows, where he goes by the name Dr. Bill. Sears is a proponent of the attachment parenting philosophy.

Life and career

Sears was born in Alton, Illinois, the son of Lucille and Willard Sears, an engineer.
Sears completed medical residencies at Children's Hospital Boston and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. In 2004, he was an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine.
He is a medical and parenting consultant for BabyTalk and Parenting magazines and the pediatrician on the website Parenting.com. According to his biography, Sears 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.
Sears and his wife Martha, a registered nurse, have eight children. Three of the children have also become doctors: Jim , Bob, and Peter.
Sears and his family members are distributors and spokespersons for Juice Plus dietary supplements, which Sears promotes on his website. National Safety Associates, 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 deemed that the ads misleadingly implied "that the Gummies are low in sugar and are a nutritional alternative to fruits and vegetables". As a result, NSA "promised to modify its ads" and stop calling Gummies “the next best thing to fruits and vegetables.”
Sears operates a "health coach" certification website, The Dr. Sears Wellness Institute.
As of 2009, Sears lives in San Clemente, California, and operates a private medical practice in Capistrano Beach, California with his sons.

Selected works