Dr. Joan Enric Torra-Bou
PhD, MSc Nurs, BSc Nurs, DUE-RN

Joan Enric Torra is a Clinical Consultant in skin integrity and patient safety, and a contributor to the PhD programme in health sciences at the University of Lleida. He is currently retired from professional life and is co-founder and president of the NGO Jannu Ferides (Wound care for all), www.jannu-ferides.org.

He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSc Nurs) from the University of Barcelona in 1982. He completed the Master’s in Research and Management of Wound Care at the University of Cantabria (MSc Nurs) in 2012 and was awarded a PhD by the University of Alicante in February 2016.

He has worked as a primary care nurse in various centres, as well as in the Department of Health of the Government of Catalonia as a healthcare planning specialist, from which role he implemented the primary care reform and various home care programmes. He established and headed the Interdisciplinary Chronic Wound Unit of the Terrassa Health Consortium (1997–2003) in Terrassa, Barcelona, and between December 2003 and May 2018 worked as Clinical Manager in the Wound Care Division of Smith & Nephew, carrying out clinical support, training and research activities in Spain, Portugal and Latin America. In 2018, he founded SAPIENS Ferides/as-Heridas-Wound Consultants, the first comprehensive wound care consultancy in Spain and Latin America, www.sapiens-fhwc.com, which he directed until December 2025. From September 2018 to September 2021, he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Nursing at the University of Lleida. From October 2021 to June 2023, he was an associate professor at the same university. He is currently retired from professional life.

His research and educational interests in wound care are wide-ranging, including: the epidemiology and cost of different types of wounds, the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers, leg ulcers, complex wounds, paediatric wounds, negative pressure therapy, the evaluation of clinical practice guidelines, Epidermolysis Bullosa, advanced skin care, incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD), lymphoedema, patient safety related to wound care, health economics, and the effectiveness and efficiency of wound care and the prevention of surgical site infections. He has also conducted research into the pressure-reducing properties of foam dressings, as well as basic and experimental research on various aspects of wounds, and the development of new products, innovations and organisational frameworks for wound care.

He is a member of the Steering Committee of GNEAUPP (National Group for the Study and Advice on Pressure Ulcers and Chronic Wounds, www.gneaupp.org), a Trustee of EPUAP (European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel), and a researcher with the Tissue Repair and Regeneration Research Group (TR2Lab), Institute for Research and Innovation in Life and Health Sciences in Central Catalonia (IrisCC) (2021 SGR 00816), https://mon.uvic.cat/TR2Lab/, and Consultant Advisor to the Lindsay Leg Club Foundation, www.legclub.org.

He has supervised four doctoral theses on topics related to wound care and is co-supervisor of three other doctoral theses currently in progress.

He has published over 160 scientific papers, including more than 100 articles on chronic wounds and other related scientific topics (15 of which in international journals), as well as over 50 book chapters on wound care (5 of which in international publications), and is the co-editor of the three editions of the first Spanish textbook on wound healing.

In 1996, he received the National Nursing Research Award from the General Council of Nursing of Spain. In 2003, he was awarded the GNEAUPP Gold Medal, and in 2024, the Journal of Wound Care 2024 Award (gold medal) in the pressure injury category.