Bellal Joseph, MD, FACS

Dr. Joseph is the Martin Gluck Endowed Professor of Surgery, Professor of Neurosurgery, Chief of the Division of General Surgery, Chief of the Division of Trauma, Critical Care, Burns, and Emergency Surgery, and Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Arizona.  He authored over 426 peer-reviewed publications and 34 book chapters and presented over 280 presentations.  His research has been funded by the NIA, DOD, and DARPA. His areas of expertise encompass traumatic brain injury, resuscitation and factor replacement in trauma patients, frailty, and diversity equity and inclusion. Dr. Joseph is a respected member of various national associations, past president of Arizona ACS and Arizona Trauma Association, and Vice Chair of the Committee on Trauma for the State of Arizona. He is a founding member of the Society of Acute Care Surgery Chiefs.  Dr. Joseph is also a member of the National Trauma Research Action Plan (NTRAP) steering committee. His passion lies in nurturing the professional development and growth of aspiring young surgeons.
HONORS AND AWARDS

  • UA Reynolds Scholar in Applied Geriatrics

RESIDENCY

  • Henry Ford Hospital, Administrative Chief Resident - General Surgery, 2007-2008
  • Henry Ford Hospital, General Surgery, 2003-2008

INTERNSHIP

  • Henry Ford Hospital, General Surgery, 2003-2008

FELLOWSHIP

  • University of Maryland - R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, Trauma/Surgical Critical Care, 2008

BOARD CERTIFICATIONS

  • American Board of Surgery, General
  • American Board of Surgery, Surgical Critical Care

Chief, Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care, Burns & Acute Care Surgery
Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery
Member of the Graduate Faculty
Professor, Neurosurgery
Martin Gluck Endowed Professor of Surgery

Additional Contact Info: 
Fax: (520) 626-5016       
Patient Appointments: (520) 694-6144
 
Education: 
  • Saba University School of Medicine Saba, Dutch Caribbean,​ 2000-2003 (M.D.)
  • American University of the Caribbean, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, 1999-2000
  • Michigan State University, East Lansing, 1995-1999 (B.S., Biochemistry and Biotechnology)
Honors and Awards: 
  • The Anthony C. Guzauskas Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching. Department of Surgery,  University of Arizona 2015
  • Young Investigator Award, World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine (WFSICCM) 2015
  • American College of Surgeons, Surgeons as leaders course 2015
  • Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) Leadership Development Scholarship 2014
  • Arizona Center on Aging Reynolds Scholar in Aging 2013
  • UA COM Convocation Invited Student Faculty 2013
  • Indian Health Services (IHS) Trauma Care and Injury Prevention Program Award 2012
  • Dean’s List for Excellence in Teaching Award- Year III and IV, University of Arizona College of Medicine 2011
  • Henry Ford Hospital Resident Surgical Research Award 2008
  • Wayne State University School of Medicine, Chapter of the Good Humanism Honor Society 2007
  • Andrew S. Rowan Surgical Intern of the Year, Henry Ford Hospital 2004
Student/Resident Mentored Awards
  • Research Symposium, Oral Presentation, Department of Surgery, University of Arizona. (Tianyi Swartz, MS) 2017
  • Resident Competition, American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, Arizona Chapter, 1st Place (Viraj Pandit, MD) 2016
  • Resident Competition, American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, Arizona Chapter, 2nd Place (Faisal Jehan, MD) 2016
  • Resident Competition, American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, Arizona Chapter, 3rd Place (Hassan Aziz, MD) 2016
  • Research Symposium, Oral Presentation, Department of Surgery, University of Arizona. (Asad Azim, MD) 2016
  • Resident Competition, American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, Arizona Chapter, 1st Place (Tahereh Orouji, MD) 2015
  • Resident Competition, American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, Arizona Chapter, 2nd Place (Ansab Haider, MD) 2015
  • American College of Surgeons Student Poster competition, Chicago, IL, 3rd place. (Tania Hassanzadeh) 2015
  • Jack A. Barney, Resident Paper award, Southwest Surgical Association, Monterey, California. (Ansab A. Haider, MD) 2015
Major Areas of Research Interest: 
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Frailty and geriatric surgical patients
  • Surgical outcomes
  • Injury prevention
Selected Publications: 
 Joseph B, Phelan H, Hassan A, Orouji Jokar T, O’Keeffe T, Azim A, Gries L, Kulvatunyou N, Latifi R, Rhee P. The Impact of Frailty on Failure-to-Rescue in Geriatric Trauma Patients; A Prospective Study. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. (Accepted; waiting to be published) (First Author, Project Idea, Data search, methodology, manuscript writing and editing)
 
 Joseph B, Khalil M, Harrison C, Swartz T, Kulvatunyou N, Haider AA, Orouji Jokar T, Burk D, Mahmoud A, Latifi R, Rhee P. Assessing The Efficacy of Prothrombin Complex Concentrate in Multiply Injured Patients with High-Energy Pelvic and Extremity Fractures. Journal of Orthopedic Trauma.  (Accepted; waiting to be published) (First Author, Project Idea, Data search, methodology, manuscript writing and editing)
 
Ilyas M, Bardiya Z, Joseph B, Nfonsam VN, Maegawa F, Wexner SD.  Are there differences in outcomes after elective Sigmoidectomy for Diverticular disease and Cancers? A National Inpatient Sample Study. Colorectal Disease. July 2016 Pub Status: in print.  (Data search, methodology, manuscript writing and editing)
 
Joseph B, Azim A, Haider A, Kulvatunyou N, O’Keeffe T, Hassan A, Gries L, Tran E, Latifi R, Rhee P. Bicycle Helmets Works the Most when it Matters the Most. The American Journal of Surgery. (Accepted; waiting to be published) (First Author, Project Idea, Data search, methodology, manuscript writing and editing)
 
Haider A, Azim A, Rhee P, Kulvatunyou N, Ibraheem K, Tang A, O’Keeffe T, Iftikhar H, Vercruysse G, Joseph B. Substituting Systolic Blood Pressure with Shock Index in the National Trauma Triage Protocol.  Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery.  (Accepted; waiting to be published) (Senior Author, Data search, methodology, manuscript writing and editing)
 
Azim A, Haider A, Rhee P, Verma K, Windell E, Orouji Jokar T, Kulvatunyou N, Meer M, Latifi R, Joseph B. Early Feeds not Force Feeds: Enteral Nutrition in Traumatic Brain Injury. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. PMID: 27116412  (Senior Author, Data search, methodology, manuscript writing and editing)
 
Joseph B, Hadeed S, Haider A, Ditillo M, Joseph A, Pandit V, Kulvatunyou N, Tang A, Latifi R, Rhee P. Obesity and trauma mortality: Sizing up the Risks in Motor Vehicle Crashes PMID: 26996285 (First Author, Project Idea, Data search, methodology, manuscript writing and editing)
 
Joseph B, Haider A, Ibraheem K, Kulvatunyou N, Tang A, Azim A, O'Keeffe T, Gries L, Vercruysse G, Rhee P. Revitalizing Vital Signs: The Role of Delta Shock Index. Shock.
PMID: 27058044. (First Author, Project Idea, Data search, methodology, manuscript writing and editing)
 
Joseph B, Ibraheem K, Haider AA, Kulvatunyou N, Tang A, O'Keeffe T, Bauman ZM, Green DJ, Latifi R, Rhee P. Identifying potential utility of REBOA: An autopsy study.  Journal of Trauma and Acute Care SurgeryPMID: 27192469 (First Author, Project Idea, Data search, methodology, manuscript writing and editing)
 
Joseph B, Parvaneh S, Swartz T, Haider A, Hassan A, Kulvatunyou N , Tang A, Latifi R, Najafi B, Rhee P.  Stress among Surgical Attendings and Trainees: A Quantitative Assessment during Trauma Activation and Emergency Surgeries. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery.  (Accepted; waiting to be published) (First Author, Project Idea, Data search, methodology, manuscript writing and editing)
 
Toosizadeh N, Joseph B, Heusser MR, Orouji Jokar T, Mohler J, Phelan HA, Najafi B. Assessing Upper-Extremity Motion: An Innovative, Objective Method to Identify Frailty in Older Bed-Bound Trauma Patients. Journal of American College of Surgeons. PMID: 27155751 (Clinical project idea, Data search, methodology, manuscript writing and editing)
 
Joseph B, Khalil M , Hashmi A, Hecker L, Kulvatunyou N, Tang A, Friese RS, Rhee P. Survival Benefits of Remote Ischemic Conditioning in Sepsis. Journal of Surgical Research. Feb 18, 2016. In press  (First Author, Project Idea, Data search, methodology, manuscript writing and editing)
 
Fortuna G, DubBose J, Mendelsberg R, Inaba K, Haider A, Joseph B, Skarupa D, Selleck M, Nicolas JH, Ouw KC. Contemporary outcomes of lower extremity vascular repairs extending below the knee: A multicenter retrospective study. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery2016 Jul;81(1):63-70. PMID: 26885995  (Data search, manuscript writing and editing) 
 
Sponsored Research Through MSRP: 
Christopher Larkins, (MSRP 2010): " The Use of Anti-Platelet Drugs and Platelet Function after Traumatic Brain Injury with Intra-Cranial Hemorrhage"
 
George Hadeed, (MSRP 2011): "Use of Handheld Wireless Devices in the Treatment and Management of Trauma and General Surgery Patients"
 
Sandeep Bains, (MSRP 2013): "An Educational Research/Outreach Campaign Against Texting anad Driving" 
 
Tianyi Swartz, (MSRP 2014): "Heart Rate Variability on Trauma Team Members"
 
Chelsey Santino, (MSRP 2016): "Impact of Frailty on Quality of Life"
 
James Palmer, (MSRP 2017): "Identifying the Serum Markers Associated with Frailty."
 
Adam Roussas, (MSRP 2017): " Number and Type of Complications Associated with Failure-To-Rescue in Trauma Patients."
 
Phillip Vartanyan, (MSRP 2018): "Using Actigraphy to Measure Fatigue in Trauma Team Members."
 
Joseph Richards, (MSRP 2019): "Prospective Evaluation of Serum GFAP and UCH-L1 for Ruling out Traumatic Brain Injuries: A Pilot Study."
 
Daniel Kitts, (MSRP 2020): "The Significance of Thromboelasto-graphy in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients on Preinjury Noval Oral Anticoagulation (NOAC) Therapy."
 
Malak Akl, (MSRP 2021): "Breaking the Frailty Code: How do Anti-Inflammatory Cytokines and Mitochondrial DNA DAMPs Factor In?."
 
Michael Culbert, (MSRP 2021): "A Prospective Evaluation of Immune and Endocrine Response in Geriatric Emergency General Surgery Patients: Frailty Worsens Inflammatory Response."
 
Advanced Research Distinction Track (RDT): 
Christopher Larkins, (RDT Class of 2013): "Traumatic Brain Injury in Patients Taking Anti-Platelet Medication: Is Platelet Transfusion Advantageous?"
 
Sandeep Bains, (RDT Class of 2016): "Campaign Against Texting and Driving."
 
Gagan Kaur, (RDT Class of 2016): "The Impact of Pre-Injury Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors in Traumatic Brain Injury."
 
Chelsey Santino, (RDT Class of 2019): "Prospective Evaluation of Health Related Quality Of Life (HRQoL) in Geriatric Trauma Patients."
 
James Palmer, (RDT Class of 2020): "Immune Endocrine Markers As A Predictor Of Frailty In Geriatric Trauma Patients."
 
Adam Roussas, (RDT Class of 2021): "Number and Type of Complications Associated with Failure-To-Rescue in Trauma Patients."
 
Phillip Vartanyan, (RDT Class of 2021): "Chronic Alcoholism is Bad for Broken Ribs: A Nationwide Analysis of 20,120 Patients with Rib Fracture."
 
Aaron Masjedi, (RDT Class of 2022): "Remote Ischemic Conditioning in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): A Pilot Study"
 
Joseph Richards, (RDT  Class of 2022): "Prospective Evaluation of Serum GFAP and UCH-L1 for Ruling out Traumatic Brain Injuries: A Pilot Study"
 
Tala Shahin, (RDT Class of 2023): "The frailty spectrum as a prognostic factor"
 
Malak Akl, (RDT Class of 2024): " Breaking the Frailty Code: How do Anti-Inflammatory Cytokines and Mitochondrial DNA DAMPs Factor In?"
 
Michael Culbert, (RDT Class of 2024): "A Prospective Evaluation of Immune and Endocrine Response in Geriatric Emergency General Surgery Patients: Frailty Worsens Inflammatory Response"
 
NIH Undergraduate Diversity Program: 
 Emily Tran, 2015, "Studying Trauma Surgery"
 
NIH High School Student Research Program: 
Kayla Dillard, Kofa High School (Yuma, AZ), 2020
Isabelle Haven, Bioscience High School (Phoenix, AZ), 2020
Antonia Calvillo, Pueblo High School, 2022
Maya Rose, Tucson Magnet High School, 2022
 
Thursday, August 9, 2018