Danniel Zamora, M.D.
Infectious Disease
Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Medicine
Danniel Zamora, M.D., is an infectious disease specialist with a deep commitment to improving the lives of patients undergoing cancer and stem cell transplant treatments. Born in Los Angeles and the first in his family to graduate college, Dr. Zamora’s journey into medicine was inspired by a lifelong desire to help others. His passion for infectious diseases was sparked during his internal medicine residency, where he witnessed the profound impact of infections on immunocompromised patients.
Dr. Zamora’s expertise lies in cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and CMV-specific immunity, and his research has earned national recognition. His first-authored study on CMV-specific T-cell reconstitution was published in Blood and cited over 100 times. He also received a prestigious NIH/NIAID K23 Career Development Award with a perfect impact score.
He earned his medical degree from the University of Arizona, completed his residency at UT Southwestern, and pursued fellowship training at the University of Washington. Dr. Zamora has presented at international conferences and collaborated on national guidelines for infection management in transplant recipients.
A proud Southern Californian, Dr. Zamora is excited to serve his home community at City of Hope. He is fluent in Spanish and brings a compassionate, empathetic approach to patient care.
Location
Orange County Cancer Specialty Hospital
Irvine, CA 92618
Education & Experience
Professional Experience
- 2025–Present, Assistant Clinical Professor, City of Hope Orange County, Irvine, CA
- 2021–2025, Acting Assistant Professor, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
- 2021–2025, Associate, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA
- 2020–2025, Attending Physician, Northwest Medical Center, Seattle, WA
- 2019–2021, Locums Attending Physician, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, WA
Degrees
- 2009, Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
- 2014, Doctor of Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ
Residency
- 2014–2017, Resident in Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX
Fellowship
- 2017–2020, Fellow in Infectious Diseases, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Awards & Memberships
- 2014, Dr. Milan V. Novak & Dorothy F. Novak Pulmonary Award (University of Arizona College of Medicine)
- 2016, 1st place in Basic Sciences at the First Annual Donald W. Seldin Research Symposium (UTSW),
- 2017, 2nd Symposium on Infectious Diseases in the Immunocompromised Host, stipend recipient (Fred Hutch)
- 2019, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)/Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Infectious Diseases Research Careers 2019 Meeting, presenter/stipend recipient
- 2019, IDWeek 2019 Trainee Travel Grant awardee
- 2020, 30th European Congress of Clinical and Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), presenter/stipend recipient
- 2020, IDWeek 2020 Diagnostics Abstract Award
- 2021, National Institutes of Health (NIH)/NIAID Loan Repayment Award
- 2023, Debra Mattson Infectious Disease Research Award (Fred Hutch)
- 2023, Milton Hernandez Lecture of Excellence in Mentoring Life Sciences Researchers (MHLEM), presenting protégé (Office of Research Training and Special Programs/NIAID)
- 2023, NIH/NIAID Loan Repayment Award (renewal)
- 2024, FY25 VIDD Faculty Initiative Award (Fred Hutch)
Publications
- Zamora D, Dasgupta S, Stevens-Ayers T, Edmison B, Winston DJ, Razonable RR, Mehta AK, Lyon GM, Boeckh M, Singh N, Koelle DM, Limaye AP. “Cytomegalovirus immunity in high-risk liver transplant recipients following preemptive antiviral therapy versus prophylaxis.” JCI Insight. 2024 Sep 24;9(18):e180115. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.180115. PMID: 39099206.
- Zamora D, Xie H, Sadowska-Klasa A, Kampouri E, Biernacki MA, Ueda Oshima M, Duke E, Green ML, Kimball LE, Holmberg L, Waghmare A, Greninger AL, Jerome KR, Hill GR, Hill JA, Leisenring WM, Boeckh M. “CMV reactivation during pretransplantation evaluation: a novel risk factor for posttransplantation CMV reactivation.” Blood Adv. 2024 Sep 10;8(17):4568-4580. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2023012234. PMID: 38924728; PMCID: PMC11399585.
- Sadowska-Klasa A, Özkök S, Xie H, Leisenring WM, Zamora D, Seo S, Sheldon J, Lee SJ, Jerome KR, Green ML, Boeckh MJ. “Late Cytomegalovirus Disease after Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: Significance of Novel Transplantation Techniques”. Blood Adv. 2024 Jul 23;8(14):3639-3651. doi:
10.1182/bloodadvances.2023012175. PMID: 38537062; PMCID: PMC11284709. - Eichenberger EM, Zamora D, Schaenman J, Hill JA. “Like watching a soccer game through a keyhole: Cytomegalovirus cell-mediated immunity incompletely reveals risk for clinically significant cytomegalovirus reactivation in cord blood transplant recipients”. Transpl Infect Dis. 2023 Oct;25(5):e14116. doi: 10.1111/tid.14116. Epub 2023 Aug 14. PMID: 37577924.
- Kampouri E, Zamora D, Kiem ES, Liu W, Ibrahimi S, Blazevic RL, Lovas EA, Kimball LE, Huang ML, Jerome KR, Ueda Oshima M, Mielcarek M, Zerr DM, Boeckh MJ, Krantz EM, Hill JA. Human herpesvirus-6 reactivation and disease after allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation in the era of letermovir for cytomegalovirus prophylaxis. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2023 Nov;29(11):1450.e1-1450.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2023.07.026. Epub 2023 Jul 31. PMID: 37532126; PMCID: PMC10828110.
- Perchetti GA, Biernacki MA, Xie H, Castor J, Joncas-Schronce L, Ueda Oshima M, Kim Y, Jerome KR, Sandmaier BM, Martin PJ, Boeckh M, Greninger AL, Zamora D. Cytomegalovirus breakthrough and resistance during letermovir prophylaxis. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2023 Apr;58(4):430-436. doi: 10.1038/s41409-023-01920-w. Epub 2023 Jan 24. PMID: 36693927.
- Ueda Oshima M, Xie H, Zamora D, Flowers ME, Hill GR, Mielcarek M, Sandmaier BM, Gooley TA, Boeckh M. “Impact of GVHD prophylaxis on CMV reactivation and disease after HLA-matched peripheral blood stem cell transplantation”. Blood Adv. 2023;7(8):1394-1403. doi:10.1182/ bloodadvances.2022009112. PMID: 36595478 PMCID: PMC10139935
- Minnie SA, Waltner OG, Ensbey KS, Nemychenkov NS, Schmidt CR, Bhise SS, Legg SRW, Campoy G, Samson LD, Kuns RD, Zhou T, Huck JD, Vuckovic S, Zamora D, Yeh A, Spencer A, Koyama M, Markey KA, Lane SW, Boeckh M, Ring AM, Furlan SN, Hill GR. “Depletion of exhausted alloreactive T cells enables targeting of stem-like memory T cells to generate tumor-specific immunity”. Sci Immunol. 2022;7(76):eabo3420. doi:10.1126/ sciimmunol.abo3420. PMID: 36240285 PMCID: PMC10184646
- Hill JA, Zamora D, Xie H., Thur LA, Delaney C, Dahlberg A, Pergam SA, Leisenring WM, Boeckh M, Milano F. “Delayed-onset cytomegalovirus infection is frequent after discontinuing letermovir in umbilical cord blood transplant recipients”. Blood Adv. 2021;5(16):3113-3119. doi:10.1182/ bloodadvances.2021004362. PMID: 34402885 PMCID: PMC8405185
- Zamora D, Duke ER, Xie H, Edmison BC, Akoto BB, Kiener R, Stevens-Ayers T, Wagner R, Mielcarek M, Leisenring WM, Jerome KR, Schiffer J, Finak G, De Rosa S, Boeckh M. “Cytomegalovirus-specific T-cell Reconstitution following Letermovir Prophylaxis after Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation”. Blood.
2021;138(1):34-43. doi:10.1182/blood.2020009396. PMID: 33657225 PMCID: PMC8493975 - Boonyaratanakornkit J, Morishima C, Selke S, Zamora D, McGuffin S, Shapiro AE, Campbell VL, McClurkan CL, Jing L, Gross R, Liang J, Postnikova E, Mazur S, Lukin VV, Chaudhary A, Das MK, Fink SL, Bryan A, Greninger AL, Jerome KR, Holbrook MR, Gernsheimer TB, Wener MH, Wald A, Koelle DM. “Clinical, laboratory, and temporal predictors of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 among COVID-19 convalescent plasma donor candidates”. J Clin Invest. 2021 Feb 1;131(3):e144930. doi: 10.1172/JCI144930. PMID: 33320842; PMCID: PMC7843229.