Joe W. Ramsdell, MD

Joe W. Ramsdell, MD, is Professor and Division Head of General Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). In this role, he has developed an expertise in multi-departmental coordination and leadership. He was the founder and past director of the Geriatric Fellowship and Primary Care Fellowship Programs at UCSD, programs that train fellows from multiple departments including Preventive and Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Neuroscience and Psychiatry.

His research interests focus on chronic diseases of aging including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and prostatic hyperplasia and outcomes of healthcare delivery systems serving frail elderly. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Medical Therapy for Prostatic Symptoms was a multi-center, randomized clinical trial lasting seven years. It is an example of the collaboration between Geriatrics and Urology for studying treatment outcomes of a geriatric medical complaint. Dr. Ramsdell is Co-Principal Investigator for the NIH sponsored Asthma Clinical Research Center and the American Lung Association sponsored Airways Clinical Research Centers and Director of the UCSD Clinical Trials Center.