Joseph Leach, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Radiology
School of Medicine

Dr. Leach completed a four-year Diagnostic Radiology residency at UCSF in 2018, spending 2017-2018 as an NIH T32 Training Grant research fellow, where he focused his research on the development of methodologies by which to study the biomechanics of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) on a patient-specific basis. Dr. Leach completed a clinical fellowship in Abdominal Imaging/Ultrasound at UCSF in 2019 and joined the department as an assistant professor in residence in the section of Abdominal Imaging and Ultrasound later the same year. In addition to his clinical role at UCSF, Dr Leach maintains an active research program, studying the imaging and biomechanics of vascular disease.

• Aortic area/height ratio, peak wall stresses, and outcomes in veterans with tricuspid versus bicuspid aortic valve-associated ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms.
  The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery 2023 Zamirpour S, Xuan Y, Wang Z, Gomez A, Leach J, Mitsouras D, Saloner DA, Guccione JM, Ge L, Tseng EE
• Ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm elongation occurs in parallel with dilatation in a nonsurgical population.
  European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery 2023 Gulati A, Zamirpour S, Leach J, Khan A, Wang Z, Xuan Y, Hope MD, Saloner DA, Guccione JM, Ge L, Tseng EE
• Contrast-enhanced CT radiomics improves the prediction of abdominal aortic aneurysm progression.
  European radiology 2023 Wang Y, Xiong F, Leach J, Kao E, Tian B, Zhu C, Zhang Y, Hope M, Saloner D, Mitsouras D
• Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms as a Potential Marker for Disease Progression.
  Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI 2023 Zhou A, Leach JR, Zhu C, Dong H, Jiang F, Lee YJ, Iannuzzi J, Gasper W, Saloner D, Hope MD, Mitsouras D
• Editorial: Advances in aortic imaging.
  Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine 2023 Leach JR, Zhu C, Burris N, Hope MD
• Abstract 14350: CVSA Early Career Investigator Award Finalist: Association of Aneurysm Wall Stresses With Diameter Indices and Three-Year Outcomes in Veterans.
  Circulation 2022 Siavash Zamirpour, XUAN Yue, Zhongjie Wang, Axel Gomez, Michael D Hope, JOSEPH LEACH, David Saloner, Julius Guccione, Liang Ge, Elaine E Tseng
• Impact of Implicit Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening in the Veterans Affairs Health Care System Over 10 Years.
  Journal of Vascular Surgery 2022 J.R. Leach, H. Shen, E. Huo, T.A. Hope, D. Mitsouras, M.A. Whooley
• Association of 3-Year All-Cause Mortality and Peak Wall Stresses of Ascending Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms in Veterans.
  Seminars in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery 2022 Zamirpour S, Xuan Y, Wang Z, Gomez A, Hope MD, Leach J, Mitsouras D, Saloner DA, Guccione JM, Ge L, Tseng EE
• Impact of Implicit Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening in the Veterans Affairs Health Care System Over 10 Years.
  Journal of the American Heart Association 2022 Leach JR, Shen H, Huo E, Hope TA, Mitsouras D, Whooley MA, Hope MD
• Ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm growth is minimal at sizes that do not meet criteria for surgical repair.
  Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery 2022 Gulati A, Leach J, Wang Z, Xuan Y, Hope MD, Saloner DA, Ge L, Tseng EE
• Abstract 9061: Aortic Wall Stress Across Risk Groupings of Aortic Size and Height Indices in a Male Veteran Population With Ascending Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm.
  Circulation 2021 Siavash Zamirpour, Yue Xuan, Zhongjie Wang, Axel Gomez, Michael D Hope, Joseph Leach, David A Saloner, Julius M Guccione, Liang Ge, Elaine E Tseng
• Ascending Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Growth is Minimal at Sizes That Do Not Meet Criteria for Surgical Repair.
  Structural Heart 2021 Arushi Gulati, Joseph Leach, Zhongjie Wang, Yue Xuan, Michael D. Hope, Liang Ge, Elaine E. Tseng
• Abdominal aortic aneurysm measurement at CT/MRI: potential clinical ramifications of non-standardized measurement technique and importance of multiplanar reformation.
  Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery 2021 Leach JR, Zhu C, Mitsouras D, Saloner D, Hope MD
• Mesh on the move: a case report of total transmural surgical mesh migration causing bowel obstruction.
  Clinical journal of gastroenterology 2020 Leach JR, Manoukian B, Stewart L
• Abstract 16957: Ascending Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Wall Stresses Evolve in Parallel With Diameter Growth.
  Circulation 2020 Arushi Gulati, Zhongjie Wang, Yue XUAN, JOSEPH LEACH, Michael D Hope, David Saloner, Julius Guccione, Liang Ge, Elaine E Tseng
• Computer-aided quantification of non-contrast 3D black blood MRI as an efficient alternative to reference standard manual CT angiography measurements of abdominal aortic aneurysms.
  European journal of radiology 2020 Wang Y, Tian B, Xiong F, Kao E, Zhang Y, Liu X, Tian X, Haraldsson H, Zhu C, Leach J, Liu J, Hope MD, Mitsouras D, Saloner D
• Wall Stress Changes in Ascending Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms Do Not Correlate with Changes in Diameter over Time.
  Journal of the American College of Surgeons 2020 Arushi Gulati, Zhongjie Wang, Yue Xuan, Joseph Leach, David A. Saloner, Julius M. Guccione, Liang Ge, Elaine E. Tseng
• Expanding the Radiologist's Arsenal against Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms, a Versatile Adversary.
  Radiology 2020 Mitsouras D, Leach JR
• Growth of common iliac artery aneurysms coexisting with abdominal aortic aneurysms: associated factors and potential role of intraluminal thrombus.
  Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery 2020 Wang Y, Zhu C, Leach J, Gasper W, Saloner D, Hope M
• Intraluminal Thrombus Predicts Rapid Growth of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms.
  Radiology 2020 Zhu C, Leach JR, Wang Y, Gasper W, Saloner D, Hope MD
• Sound Measurement in Patient-Specific 3D Printed Bench Models of Venous Pulsatile Tinnitus.
  Otology & Neurotology 2020 Keerthi Valluru, James Parkhill, Ayushi Gautam, Henrik Haraldsson, Evan Kao, Joseph Leach, Alexandra Wright, Megan Ballweber, Karl Meisel, David Saloner, Matthew Amans
• On the Relative Impact of Intraluminal Thrombus Heterogeneity on Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Mechanics.
  Journal of biomechanical engineering 2019 Leach JR, Kao E, Zhu C, Saloner D, Hope MD
• O-025 Sound measurement in patient-specific 3D printed bench models for venous pulsatile tinnitus.
  Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery 2019 M Amans, K Valluru, H Haraldsson, E Kao, J Leach, A Wright, M Ballweber, K Meisel, D Saloner
• COMPARISON OF TWO METHODS FOR ESTIMATING THE UNLOADED STATE FOR ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSM STRESS CALCULATIONS.
  Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology 2019 JOSEPH R. LEACH, CHENGCHENG ZHU, DAVID SALONER, MICHAEL D. HOPE
• Evaluation of the distribution and progression of intraluminal thrombus in abdominal aortic aneurysms using high-resolution MRI.
  Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI 2019 Zhu C, Leach JR, Tian B, Cao L, Wen Z, Wang Y, Liu X, Liu Q, Lu J, Saloner D, Hope MD
• Non-contrast 3D black blood MRI for abdominal aortic aneurysm surveillance: comparison with CT angiography.
  European radiology 2016 Zhu C, Tian B, Leach JR, Liu Q, Lu J, Chen L, Saloner D, Hope MD
• Clot Through the Heart: Paradoxical Embolism With Thrombus-in-Transit at Multidetector Computed Tomography.
  Journal of computer assisted tomography 2015 Leach JR, Elicker B, Yee J, Puppula S, Wisneski JA, Yeh BM
• Human Cardiac Function Simulator for the Optimal Design of a Novel Annuloplasty Ring with a Sub-valvular Element for Correction of Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation.
  Cardiovascular engineering and technology 2015 Baillargeon B, Costa I, Leach JR, Lee LC, Genet M, Toutain A, Wenk JF, Rausch MK, Rebelo N, Acevedo-Bolton G, Kuhl E, Navia JL, Guccione JM
• In vitro modeling of the microvascular occlusion and thrombosis that occur in hematologic diseases using microfluidic technology.
  The Journal of clinical investigation 2011 Tsai M, Kita A, Leach J, Rounsevell R, Huang JN, Moake J, Ware RE, Fletcher DA, Lam WA
• Carotid atheroma rupture observed in vivo and FSI-predicted stress distribution based on pre-rupture imaging.
  Annals of biomedical engineering 2010 Leach JR, Rayz VL, Soares B, Wintermark M, Mofrad MR, Saloner D
• Computational Models of Vascular Mechanics.
  Computational Modeling in Biomechanics 2010 Joseph R. Leach, Mohammad R. K. Mofrad, David Saloner
• An efficient two-stage approach for image-based FSI analysis of atherosclerotic arteries.
  Biomechanics and modeling in mechanobiology 2009 Leach JR, Rayz VL, Mofrad MR, Saloner D