Professor of Molecular Medicine
The Cleveland Clinic
Dr, Damaser is Professor of Molecular Medicine in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH and has joint appointments as Full Staff in the Biomedical Engineering Department of the Lerner Research Institute and the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute at Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH. She also is a Senior Research Career Scientist in the Advanced Platform Technology Center of the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, Cleveland, OH. For over 20 years, she has lead a research lab conducting research on the causes of and treatments for pelvic floor disorders, including stress urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and fecal incontinence. She has developed and used animal models to test novel therapies with a focus on applying techniques from regenerative medicine to pelvic floor disorders. She uses the animal models to investigate the effects of comorbidities such as diabetes, obesity, age, and other pelvic floor disorders, on urinary incontinence and the response to regenerative therapies. Dr. Damaser is also developing several novel devices for improved diagnosis and treatment of incontinence. She holds one issued US Patent and has 5 pending US Patent applications.
Dr. Damaser has over 140 scientific peer-reviewed publications and has had continuous research funding from VA and NIH for 20 years in addition to collaborative research grants from private foundations and several companies. She is widely regarded as an international expert on urodynamics, models for studying female pelvic floor disorders, and new technologies in female urology and pelvic floor disorders. As such, she serves on NIH, VA, DOD, and private foundation study sections and as an editorial board member of the journals Neurourology & Urodynamics, PLoS ONE, Scientific Reports, and Nature Reviews Urology. She is also one of the founders of the Society for Pelvic Research. She is a member of the American Urological Association Research Education Conferences and Communications Committee. Most recently, she has joined the NIH NIDDK Advisory Board (Council) as a member of the NIDDK Kidney, Hematology, and Urology (KUH) Sub-Council.
Dr. Damaser has won a number of awards for her high quality research. In 2000 Dr. Damaser was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, for outstanding research on the human urinary bladder using mathematical modeling along with physiological and neurological studies. This is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. In 2012 she was awarded the American Medical Women’s Association Gender Equity Award by the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, which is given to a member of the faculty who exemplifies the principle of gender equality in teaching and who promotes a gender-fair training environment. In 2014 she was elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows, representing the top 2% of medical and biological engineers.