Center for
Global Health

Associate Scholar

Languages: English (fluent), Spanish (fluent), Arabic (novice)

BIO STATEMENT

Joseph Leanza is an Emergency Medicine physician at the University of Pennsylvania with an interest in emergency medicine systems, disaster and humanitarian response, education, and environmental health.  Within the NGO Global Response Management, he is the project lead for emergency medicine specialty and EMS systems development in Federal Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. He also works in research and education with the Certification Program in Emergency Medicine in Pakistan and Bangladesh and with the Penn Center for Global Health developing simulation curricula at Vin University in Vietnam. He has previously worked in a clinical and research capacity with Global Emergency Care in Masaka, Uganda. 

RECENT GLOBAL HEALTH PROJECTS

Global Emergency Care. My work with GEC focuses on task-shifting in emergency medicine. We train Ugandan nurses and medical officers in the principles of emergency medicine, giving them the tools to independently practice around the country. Additional work includes outcomes research and triage protocol development.

Certification Program in Emergency Medicine. My work with CPEM focuses on training physicians in Pakistan and Bangladesh to provide exceptional emergency care. These are individuals who have a passion for emergency medicine but who have not completed specialty training. Additional work includes COVID research analysis and ER outcomes analysis.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Trehan et al. Global Emergency Medicine: A Review of the Literature from 2019. Academic Emergency Medicine, 2021. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32772445/
Fazleabas Q, Niwagaba B, Leanza J. Rheumatic Heart Disease. Ultrasound in Resource-Limited Settings: A Case Based, Open Access Text. 2020. https://manifold.escholarship.org/projects/ultrasound-in-resource-limited-settings
Rice B, Leanza J, et al. Defining High-risk Emergency Chief Complaints: Data-driven Triage for Low- and Middle-income countries. Academic Emergency Medicine, 2020. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32416022/

Abstracts
Mugisa A, Rice B, Leanza J. Pain Management for Long Bone Fractures in an Urban Ugandan Emergency Unit. African Conference on Emergency Medicine, 2020.
Mahrat, Leanza, et al. The Burden of Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases in a Ugandan Emergency Unit from 2010 – 2019. CUGH Conference, 2021.
Leanza J, Rice B, et al. Task Shifting in Emergency Medicine Improves Malaria Care for Febrile Children in Uganda. American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2018

Last Updated: 08 April 2022