Dr. Joyce Soprano received her undergraduate education at Boston University and her M.D. from Harvard Medical School. After completing postgraduate training in Pediatrics, Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Primary Care Sports Medicine from Children’s Hospital Boston, she joined the faculty of the University of Utah in 2000 and is currently Professor of Pediatrics and Division Chief of Pediatric Emergency Medicine.
Dr. Soprano’s clinical work is focused in the Emergency Departments (ED) at both campuses of Primary Children’s Hospital (PCH), where she continues to see high acuity medical and trauma patients. She served as the ED Medical Director for 8 years. In that capacity she focused her efforts on improving ED processes such as length of stay, quality improvement, patient safety, ED protocol development, and patient satisfaction.
Dr. Soprano has actively participated in many hospital-wide clinical programs. She developed and staffed a Pediatric Sports and Dance Medicine Clinic at PCH for 5 years. She was the Medical Director for Pediatric Advanced Life Support for the hospital for 2 years. She served as the Medical Director for Pediatric Continuing Medical Education for 5 years, during which time she was responsible for the development and quality of all accredited physician education for the PCH region. Dr. Soprano also served as the Medical Director for Zero Harm, focusing on improving patient safety and decreasing harm through the education and engagement of physicians throughout PCH. In addition she served as the President of the Primary Children’s Hospital Medical Staff in 2025.
Dr. Soprano served as the Associate Program Director for the fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at the University of Utah for eight years before assuming the role of Program Director for an additional 5 years. In that capacity she focused on fellow education and curriculum development.
Her scholarly activity has included: the assessment of the association between EPAs, competencies and milestones in the pediatric subspecialties; the effects of state legislation on emergency department utilization for sports-related head injuries; stroke management in the emergency department; and effective communication with patients and families. In addition, she has mentored fellows in Pediatric Emergency Medicine in several studies: 1) a quality improvement assessment after implementing an emergency triage and treatment protocol in a third world clinic; 2) the effect of different patient positions on the success of lumbar puncture in infants; and 3) the accuracy of parental reported tetanus vaccination status for children with lacerations.