The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR®) has selected two chairs to head its Interdisciplinary Network on Urological Health In Women. Please join SWHR in congratulating Dr. Margot Damaser, PhD, Professor of Molecular Medicine in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, and Dr. Elizabeth Mueller, MD, MSME, Division and Fellowship Director of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
Margot Damaser, PhD
Dr. Damaser received her PhD in Bioengineering from the joint program of the University of California San Francisco and Berkeley. She is a Professor of Molecular Medicine in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University and has joint appointments in the Biomedical Engineering Department and the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute at Cleveland Clinic. She also is a Senior Research Career Scientist in the Advanced Platform Technology Center of Excellence of the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. She has conducted research on urodynamics and the causes of and treatments for urinary incontinence for more than 20 years. She has developed novel devices for improved diagnosis and treatment of incontinence and has developed and used animal models to test novel therapies with a focus on neuroregeneration.
Dr. Damaser has more than 120 scientific peer-reviewed publications, research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), private foundations, and several companies. She also serves on NIH and VA study sections and is an editorial board member of the journal Neurourology & Urodynamics.
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, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. In 2014, she was elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows, representing the top two percent of medical and biological engineers.
“I am very excited to be co-chair of the SWHR network on women’s urologic health,” said Dr. Damaser. “This is a terrific opportunity for a group of highly respected experts to take a broader view, outside of the lab and the clinic, and leverage SWHR’s expertise in educating and motivating change through a variety of resources and avenues for the urologic health of women and girls of all ages.”
Dr. Elizabeth R. Mueller MD, MSME
Dr. Elizabeth R. Mueller MD, MSME, is the Division and Fellowship Director of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Dr. Mueller completed a BS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla and a MS in Mechanical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. She practiced as an engineer and business manager with Procter and Gamble for six years before attending St. Louis University’s School of Medicine. She completed her urology residency and FPMRS fellowship at Loyola University. She is board-certified in both urology and FPMRS.
Dr. Mueller is an NIH-funded researcher with an interest in minimally invasive (laparoscopic and vaginal) approaches to pelvic organ prolapse. She is a principle investigator and member of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases-funded consortium on the Prevention of Lower Urinary Symptoms (PLUS) in women.
Other areas of Dr. Mueller’s research interest include using 3-D ultrasound of the pelvic floor for pelvic floor disorders and management of surgical complications and understanding the urinary microbiome and its relationship to lower urinary tract symptoms. She has received numerous awards including the Society of Women in Urology Christina Manthos Mentoring Award, given to women or men who have demonstrated extraordinary mentoring skills to female urologists.
“I am thrilled to be working with SWHR and my colleagues as co-chair of the women’s urologic health effort,” said Dr. Mueller. “This will be a unique opportunity to transform what we understand as clinicians and scientists into efforts that will result in advances in advocacy and education for improving girl’s and women’s urologic health.”