Transforming Emergency Medical Care in Africa

Episode 39 of ParaPodcast.

Prof. Willem Stassen made associate professor at 35, has published 135+ papers, and runs the PhD programme in emergency medicine at the University of Cape Town. But the bigger mission is this: building an evidence base for emergency care that's actually made in Africa, for Africa. In this episode he sits down with the ParaPodcast team on why he left the road to fix the system instead of the shift, how UCT is opening postgraduate study to short-course paramedics, why prehospital research is so brutally hard, and what it really takes to turn a paramedic into a researcher who changes policy. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open + intro 2:23 The early years: Joburg to a Stellenbosch–Karolinska PhD 5:40 Leaving the road for research 9:47 Inside UCT's programmes — and a way in for paramedics 18:17 The barriers that stop paramedics advancing 26:12 Turning research into impact 32:03 Wins, losses & hard lessons: failed trials, retrieval & HEMS 40:11 The systems researcher 52:50 Educating the next generation 59:09 Advice & what comes next 🔑 WHAT WE GET INTO • Why he chose to fix the system, not just the shift • UCT's five postgraduate EM programmes — PhD, MSc, MPhil, MMed, and the Postgraduate Diploma in Emergency Care • Recognition of Prior Learning: how a short-course paramedic gets into postgraduate study • The rule that every UCT project must be relevant to African emergency care • The pioneers who became the first emergency specialists in their countries • Resuscitation, dispatch, HEMS, discrete choice experiments, and palliative care in EMS • Why South Africa has only ever attempted three prehospital randomised trials — and he's been part of all three 👤 ABOUT THE GUEST Prof. Willem Stassen is an associate professor and emergency-care systems researcher at the University of Cape Town, where he convenes the PhD programme in emergency medicine. His work spans prehospital systems, resuscitation, dispatch, and health equity across Africa. 📚 135+ papers · 1,700+ citations · Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hTcwM0EAAAAJ 🎙️ ABOUT PARAPODCAST Paramedicine from Africa to the world — conversations with the clinicians, educators and researchers shaping emergency care, wherever they are. 👍 If this added value, like, subscribe, and share it with someone in EMS. Questions or thoughts? Drop them in the comments. #ParaPodcast #EmergencyMedicine #Paramedic #EMS #Paramedicine #PrehospitalCare #EmergencyCare #Africa #UCT #Resuscitation #MedicalEducation #HealthEquity

For the full conversation, use the player above. The audio version is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and any podcast app via our public feed.