Joe LeMaster, MD, MPH

Dr. Joseph LeMaster is a tenured full professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at Kansas University Medical Center (KUMC), where he is an active researcher (since 2011) and provides targeted primary care for refugees from the Himalayan nation of Bhutan. Himself a graduate of KUMC, Dr. LeMaster and his wife Judy lived in Nepal from 1990-2000, LeMaster in 1994 completed the Public Health in Developing Countries 1-year course from the London School of Hygiene And Tropical Medicine (a tool-box course for public health leaders in developing countries). He served first at Okhaldhunga Hospital (an affiliate of the United Mission to Nepal), the only medical care facility for 300,000 people, where they promoted maternal-child health and conducted leprosy research; and later at Anandaban Hospital, a facility operated by The Leprosy Mission International. He went on to obtain a Master’s in Public Health focused on epidemiology from the University of Washington School of Public Health.

Dr. LeMaster has been teaching with INMED since 2008, with particular contributions in cross-cultural skills, health leadership, and participatory learning and action. His research primarily focuses on improving healthcare for US primary care patients (mostly refugees and immigrants) who have limited English proficiency. He has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and numerous other foundations. He currently Chairs the Committee on Advancing the Science of Family Medicine and is a Board member of the North American Primary Care Research Group; and directs the American Academy of Family Medicine National Research Network (a US-based nationwide practice-based research network. He is also the Medical Director and Local Health Officer for Johnson County, Kansas (population 613, 000). His wife Judy, a retired obstetric and public health nurse, is a member of the INMED Board.