The University of Arizona Department of Surgery has promoted Professor Bellal A. Joseph, MD, FACS, to serve as chief of its Division of Trauma, Critical Care, Burn and Emergency Surgery, following a national search. The Martin Gluck Endowed Chair is held by the chief of the Division of Trauma in perpetuity, thanks to a gift from the Tucson Foundations whose generous donation instituted the chair in 2012.
Dr. Joseph joined the faculty of the UA Department of Surgery within the UA College of Medicine – Tucson in 2009. He assumed his new post as division chief on July 1.
Over the past nine years, Dr. Joseph has held a series of leadership positions within the UA Department of Surgery while working as a busy trauma surgeon, educator and active researcher.
He has served as the department’s vice chair of knowledge expansion, associate director of the Surgery Critical Care/Acute Care Fellowship Programs, director of the Southern Arizona Tele-Trauma Program, associate director of Tele-surgery in the Arizona Telemedicine Program and director of the International Research Fellowship.
“Dr. Joseph’s goal is to make what exists better and advance to the premier place where patients want to receive their care, faculty members want to build sustainable programs and further develop their careers, where fellows and residents want to do their training and where medical students feel motivated and inspired to enter our field,” said Leigh A. Neumayer, MD, MS, FACS, chair of the UA Department of Surgery.
In his new position as division chief, Dr. Joseph will lead the faculty physicians of the Division of Trauma, Critical Care, Burn and Emergency Surgery who staff the Trauma Center at Banner – UMC Tucson, the only Level 1 trauma center in Southern Arizona and the busiest trauma center in the state.
“I am blessed and thankful for the opportunity to be part of this amazing team of medical professionals who are passionate about caring for the people of Tucson,” he said.
Dr. Joseph will continue to treat trauma patients, educate medical students and surgical residents, and pursue his nationally recognized research in traumatic brain injury, resuscitation, caring for the geriatric surgical patient and injury prevention.
Dr. Joseph is the author of more than 180 peer-reviewed publications and 20 book chapters. His research is nationally recognized and has been federally funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Aging and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
He is a member of numerous surgical and scientific societies, including the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the American College of Surgeons, the Academic Association of Surgery, the International Surgical Society, American Geriatric Society and the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
Dr. Joseph earned his medical degree from the Saba University School of Medicine on Saba, a special municipality of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. He completed his surgical residency at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and a fellowship at Baltimore’s Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland. He is board-certified in both general and critical care surgery.
About the University of Arizona Health Sciences
The University of Arizona Health Sciences is the statewide leader in biomedical research and health professions training. The UA Health Sciences includes the UA Colleges of Medicine (Phoenix and Tucson), Nursing, Pharmacy and Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, with main campus locations in Tucson and the growing Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix. From these vantage points, the UA Health Sciences reaches across the state of Arizona and the greater Southwest to provide cutting-edge health education, research, patient care and community outreach services. A major economic engine, the UA Health Sciences employs approximately 4,000 people, has approximately 800 faculty members and garners more than $140 million in research grants and contracts annually. For more information: uahs.arizona.edu (Follow us: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Instagram)