The Simon Foundation for Continence
Promoting Continence...Changing Lives

   Agenda

  Speaker Bios

  Planning Committee

   Student/Jr. Faculty Grant

  Hotel Information

  Registration

Conference Endorsers
Advanced Medical Technology Association

Institution of Mechanical Engineers

International Continence Society

Society of Urologic Nurses & Associates

Women's Health Foundation

Platinum Sponsors

Workshop Sponsors

Jeff Bark, M.S., Program Director, Hollister Incorporated, Libertyville , Illinois .  Mr. Bark has been engaged in product research and development in the medical device industry for 30 years at several companies, including most notably  - Hollister Incorporated, Surgitek, a former subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb and Circon Corporation.  He has managed numerous product development groups and teams from design conception through technical development, resulting in successful product commercialization.  His product experience has included various disposable, reusable or implantable devices for urology, ostomy, incontinence, laparoscopic surgery, gastroenterology and general surgery.  More than 15 U.S. and International patent awards, as sole or co-inventor, have also resulted from this work.

Carrie Carls, BSN, RN, CWOCN, oversees pelvic floor retraining for urinary and fecal incontinence, performs urodynamics testing, treats painful bladder syndrome, and cares for wound and ostomy patients at Passavant Area Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois.  Her article, “Prevalence of Stress Urinary Incontinence in High School and College Age Female Athletes in the Midwest: Implications for Practice” appeared in the Journal of Urologic Nursing, February 2007.  Her abstract, “Partial Thickness Wound Resulting from Use of a Penile Clamp to Control Urinary Incontinence in a Patient with Radical Prostatectomy” was presented at the Symposium of Advanced Wound Care in 2005.  She teaches content in the areas of wound, ostomy, and continence care to baccalaureate nursing students at MacMurray College, and facilitates the West Central Illinois UOAA ostomy support group. 

Earl Y. Cheng, M.D. is an associate professor of urology at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago and the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University .  He is the head of reconstructive urologic surgery and the Pediatric Urology Tissue Engineering Laboratory.  In the laboratory, he is currently collaborating with Samuel Stupp, PhD., a leader in the field of nanotechnology, Daniel Harrington, PhD., and Arun Sharma, PhD.  Together, they are investigating different methods of promoting tissue specific regeneration in the urinary tract with an emphasis on bladder regeneration.  Current work involves the use of nanodesigned polymer scaffolds with different cell sources.  Dr. Cheng currently serves as a member of the Society of Pediatric Urology Executive Committee, the Exam Committee of the American Board of Urology, the Editorial Committee of the Journal of Urology, and is Chair of the Professional Advisory Council of the Spina Bifida Association of America.

Alan Cottenden, Ph.D., Technical Director Continence and Skin Technology Group, University College London, England; Simon Foundation Advisory Board Member; Chair of Organizing Committee for the biennial “Incontinence: The Engineering Challenge” conferences run by the UK Institution of Mechanical Engineers; Chair of Committee 20 (Management using Continence Products) of the WHO International Consultation on Incontinence.  Dr. Cottenden has been involved in continence technology R&D for almost 30 years, working on clinical and basic science aspects as well as product development and international standards work.

David Cottenden, M.A., Ph.D. student in the Continence and Skin Technology Group, University College London, England.  David is a mathematician who has contributed to the field for five years, focusing primarily on mathematical modeling of water transport through skin and friction between skin and nonwoven (pad) materials.  The aim of his Ph.D. project is to explain the friction properties between skin and nonwoven materials in terms of the mechanical properties of these materials and the geometry of the interface.

Margot Damaser, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland, OH; also has a joint appointment in the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute at Cleveland Clinic and at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center.  She has conducted research on urodynamics and the causes of and treatments for urinary incontinence for over 10 years.  Dr. Damaser has over 50 publications in the field and is widely regarded as an expert, serving on NIH & VA study sections and as an editorial board member of the journal Neurourology & Urodynamics.

Marcus Drake, M.D., Consultant Surgeon at the Bristol Urological Institute, Bristol, UK; Visiting Professor in Health and Applied Science, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK; Co-chairman of the Neural Control Committee of the fourth International Consultation on Incontinence; UK National Health Service Comprehensive Clinical Research Network, Urogenital Specialty Group committee member; Executive Committee member for the Section of Female and Reconstructive Urology of the British Association of Urological Surgeons: BioMed Centre Advisory Board Member.  Dr. Drake’s specialist interests are in Female and Reconstructive Urology, Neurourology and Urodynamics.

Catherine DuBeau, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Section of Geriatrics, and Director of the Geriatric Continence Clinic, University of Chicago; Chair of the Frail Elderly Committee, WHO Fourth International Consultation on Incontinence; Member of American Geriatrics Society/AMA and National Center for Quality Workgroups to set quality performance standards for incontinence management and care; her career has focused on clinical care, research, and teaching about urinary incontinence in older persons for 19 years.

Daniel Formosa, Ph.D.  Daniel Formosa is a consultant in product design and design research.  Dan’s educational background includes design, ergonomics and biomechanics.  He has received a variety of design awards and his work has been selected for national and international exhibits and awards.  Among other things, he was a member of the design team that developed IBM’s first personal computer, OXO Good Grips kitchen tools, and XM Satellite Radio.  Dan has worked extensively with Johnson & Johnson, bringing innovations to new products as well as some extremely familiar products.  His work has been included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art .  He was a founding member of Smart Design in New York City .  He lectures worldwide on design methodologies and the physical and emotional aspects of design and innovation.  On a different note, Dan recently co-authored the book Baseball Field Guide, employing principles of information design to explain the intricate rules of Major League Baseball.

Cheryle Gartley is Founder and President of The Simon Foundation for Continence.  Ms.Gartley is co-author and editor of the first book for the layperson on incontinence, published in English, Spanish, and Japanese. She has published widely including articles in journals such as The Lancet, the Journal of Urological Nursing, and Social Work Today.  She is the co-founder of Simon Canada (now the Canadian Continence Foundation) and the Continence Promotion Committee of the International Continence Society.  Ms. Gartley has a BS in sociology and education and did graduate work at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.  

Jay Goldberg, Ph.D., P.E. is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Marquette University, and Director of the Healthcare Technologies Management program at Marquette University and the Medical College of Wisconsin (Milwaukee).  He teaches courses involving project management, new product development, and medical device design.  His experience includes development of new products in urology, orthopedics, GUI and dentistry.  He is a licensed professional engineer in Illinois and Wisconsin. Dr. Goldberg earned a BS in general engineering from the University of Illinois and an MS in bioengineering from the University of Michigan. He has a master’s degree in engineering management and a PhD in biomedical engineering from Northwestern University.  He holds six patents for urological medical devices.  Dr. Goldberg also serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on Urological Devices and Materials of the American Society for Testing and Materials.  Before moving into academia, he was director of technology and quality assurance for Milestone Scientific Inc., a start-up dental product company.  Prior to that, he worked for Surgitek, Baxter, and DePuy.  He is a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the National Society of Professional Engineers, and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, and is a consultant to the Gastroenterology and Urology Therapy Device Panel of the Medical Device Advisory Committee of the FDA.  Dr. Goldberg is a co-creator of the BMES –idea national student design competition, and writes a quarterly column on senior capstone design courses for IEEE-EMBS magazine.

Alan Herbert, M.B.A. is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, member of the Board of Directors, and a Trustee of Hollister Incorporated.  Alan has more than 35 years experience including leadership positions in general management, marketing and sales management in the healthcare industry.  He was Commercial Managing Director of Healthcare Worldwide for Amersham Healthcare Inc. before joining Hollister.  His experience also includes 17 years at Bristol Myers Company in positions of increasing responsibility, including Vice President, General Manager, Oncology, and Vice President, Marketing for the Mead Johnson Pharmaceutical Division.  Mr. Herbert has a BS in Industrial Management from Purdue University and a MBA from the University of Evansville.  He currently serves as a Director on the Board of AdvaMed, the medical device industry organization, the Midtown Educational Foundation, and the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Purdue Krannert Business School.

David Hughes, MBA is Vice-President of Technology Sourcing, a specialty consulting firm that advises both small clients and large multi-national clients on developing new technology, new products and starting new businesses.  Mr. Hughes has started eight new businesses in medical technology, pharmaceutical production and various commercial products.  He is president of two active start-ups and board member of several others. He has been an advisor to the Simon Foundation for many years.

Sundareson Jayaraman, Ph.D. is a Professor in the School of Polymer, Textile and Fiber Engineering with a joint appointment in the College of Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia.  He and his research students have made significant contributions in the following areas: (i) Enterprise Architecture and Modeling Methodologies for Information Systems; (ii) Engineering Design of Intelligent Textile Structures and Processes; (iii) Design and Development of Knowledge-Based Systems (KBS) for textiles and apparel; and (iv) Wearable Biomedical Systems.  His group’s research has led to the realization of the world’s first “Wearable Motherboard”, also known as a “smart Shirt” (www.smartshirt.gatech.edu).  The first Smart Shirt is now in the  20^th Century Textile Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. Professor Jayaraman has received numerous awards including the 1989 Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, USA, and the Georgia Technology Research Leader Award from the State of Georgia in 2000.  He has served on the Study Committees for the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council of the National Academies, and is a founding member of the IEEE Technical Committee on Wearable Biomedical Systems.

Lynne S Katzmann, Ph.D. is the founder and President of Juniper Communities, a long-term care company dedicated to fostering well-being for elders, their families and communities.  Dr. Katzmann received her B.A. degree from Tufts University and her doctorate from The London School of Economics where she specialized in the study of health policy and international health system models. She has been employed in a variety of public sector roles where she was responsible for the creation of Oregon’s statewide universal health plan as well as the expansion of the Oregon Medicaid program for children and pregnant women.  Prior to founding Juniper, Dr. Katzmann served as Director of Health Care Operations at Metrocare, Inc., an American Stock Exchange company controlled by JMK Associates.  Dr. Katzmann identified nursing community properties for acquisition, coordinated due diligence efforts, arranged appropriate financing and had responsibility for the operation of over 1,000 beds.  She was also responsible for the development, operations and divestiture of Health Initiatives, an HMO management and development company.  She currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Greyston Health Services and is on the Boards of The Social Venture Network, ArtsConnection, Naropa University, and the Greyston Foundation.

Paul LaPorte, MS, has lived with incontinence since his mid twenties.  As a young man climbing the corporate ladder he struggled with the condition.  Fearing that his colleagues would find out, he shunned work related travel and refused promotions so that he could hide a condition which brought with it tremendous embarrassment.  In 1985 he attended the Simon Foundation’s first patient self-help support meetings.  He was instrumental in bringing the Simon Foundation (now the Canadian Continence Foundation) to Canada, sitting on their first Board of Directors, providing peer counseling and appearing in the media in the U.S. and Canada as a spokesperson.  Mr. LaPorte also served as a consultant to the Ministry of Health.  After returning to school, in 1990 Paul began a new career representing injured and disabled workers with the Ministry of Labour in the Province of Ontario. His expertise is with occupational diseases such as cancers and other disease processes that arise from workplaces. Incontinence, which he calls his life-long inconvenience, is not life limiting as exhibited by the fact that Paul runs marathons with his 30 year old daughter.

Missy Lavender, M.B.A., is the Executive Director and Founder of Women’s Health Foundation.  As a postpartum incontinence survivor, she was compelled to help bring education, innovation and research to the field of women’s pelvic health and fitness, creating Total Control: A Wellness Program for Women.  Ms. Lavender is also a founder and principal in K.G. Redding & Associates, a private investment management firm that invests pension fund assets in publicly traded real estate investment trusts.  Missy has an MBA in finance from Northwestern University.

Johan Lundstrom, PhD. is an Assistant Member at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. The main aim of Dr. Lundstrom’s research is to reach a better understanding of how the human brain processes chemosensory and multimodal stimuli. This work involves a wide range of methods, including psychophysical and cognitive tests in healthy individuals, functional brain imaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, and EEG), and structural brain imaging and morphometry. Current research explores how the human brain allows us to perceive, process, and understand chemosensory and multimodal information. In particular, Dr. Lundstrom is interested in the complex processing of social chemosignals, signals that act along the border between perception and cognition.

Beth mAcdonald, BS.  If innovation can be said to arise from the juxtaposition of contrasts, then it’s no surprise why Beth mAcdonald is an effective catalyst of creativity.  Her work experience includes technical management, franchise market development, new business development and organizational consultancy.  She has successfully negotiated her way through organizations that range from a multi-billion dollar multi-national to small entrepreneurial creative shops in a career that spans over 30 years of industrial experience.  She brings with her a unique combination of technical and creative skills and a broad corporate experience spanning several industries.  Exposure to industries as far afield as technical textiles, consumer products, medical devices, training and website development allows her to relate to a variety of people, problems and opportunities.  Beth spent 20 years in various management positions at Johnson & Johnson both in the States and in Asia.  In 2000 she established an industrial design consultancy based in Asia and also works as a consultant in the areas of leadership, innovation and creativity.

Laura Mazzenga, APRN, BC, CNP, CUNP, is a board certified nurse practitioner in adult primary care and urology.  She began working as an advanced practice nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) in mid 1999.  Her job has evolved as NPs were granted licensure and residents went to 80 hour work weeks.  For the past five years, Laura has been caring for urology inpatients.  She coauthored a chapter, “Male Urinary Incontinence” with Dr. Wade Bushman.  Laura was instrumental in starting the sacral nerve stimulator implantation program at NMH.  Though no longer directly involved with this population, she was co-author on the article, “Reprogramming Requirements after Sacral Nerve Stimulator Implantation: Correlation with Pre-operative Indication” in the February 2008 issue of the Journal of Urology.  Laura is a member of the Chicago Metro chapter of SUNA, and has held the positions of Treasurer and President at the chapter level.

Al Maslov, BSEE, MSEE, MBA, Manager, Customer and Professional Relations, Global Marketing, Hollister Incorporated, Libertyville, IL (Retired).  Mr. Maslov has over 35 years of experience in the medical device industry with Baxter International and Hollister Incorporated in various management positions in sales, marketing, product and business development in international markets.  His career started with IBM Corporation developing real-time computer applications in lab automation, health sciences and patient monitoring systems. 

Phillip Messersmith, Ph.D., is a professor of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering and a member of the Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine at Northwestern University .  His research involves studying biological materials and designing synthetic biomimetric materials for use in tissue repair, drug delivery and regenerative medicine.  Dr. Messersmith has a MERIT Award from the NIH and is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.  Dr. Messersmith is founder of and chief scientific advisor to Nerites Corporation, a company developing biologically inspired polymers for wound healing and tissue repair.

Thom R. Nichols, MS/MBA, CSSBB, is the Principal Clinical Research Statistician for the Department of Global Clinical Research, Hollister Incorporated.  He is a biostatistician, and holds the position of Adjunct Professor of Research Methodology at the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, Lake Forest, Illinois, and is an Adjunct Faculty Member of the AT Still University, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Kirksville, Missouri.  He has spent thirty years in the medical sciences, much of that in the design and analysis of clinical studies, and for the past eight years has been closely involved with research into the quality of life of those that have undergone life altering surgery (ostomy surgery).

Kaoru Nishimura, R.N. is the founder and chairperson of the Japan Continence Action Society and a director of the Japanese Society of Geriatric Urology.  She is also a Japanese Society for Dementia Care Board member.  Ms. Nishimura studied in England and returned to Japan as the country’s first continence advisor in 1988.  She is the author of over twenty books on continence care and consults for several continence clinics.  Ms Nishimura is known throughout Japan for her dedication to continence care. Kaoru also works with industrial designers to develop devices for individual patients with unique incontinence challenges and several of these devices have been commercialized.  Her outstanding work has been recognized with the 2006 AVON Award and the “Healthy Society Award” in 2007.  Ms. Nishimura is a member of the Continence Promotion Committee of the International Continence Society.

Christine Norton, Ph.D., MA, R.N. was one of the first nurse specialists working with incontinence in the U.K. and a founder member of the Association for Continence Advice, and later set up the UK Continence Foundation and was the Director for the first 5 years.  In 1998 Professor Norton was given a lifetime achievement award by then Prime Minister Tony Blair for her contribution to continence nursing. She is the author of several books, including “Bowel Continence Nursing” and lectures extensively. Currently, Dr.Norton is the Director of the Burdett Institute of Gastrointestinal Nursing at St. Mark’s Hospital London, and Professor of Gastrointestinal Nursing at King’s College London.

Nancy Norton is President and Founder of the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders (IFFGD).  Since 1991 IFFGD has grown from a grassroots group to a non-profit organization with representation in 90 countries.  Ms. Norton has provided testimony to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease and the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, among others, to share her personal understanding of the ways in which gastrointestinal disorders can compromise a person’s quality of life.  She was a speaker and planning committee member for the 2007 National Institutes of Health conference on urinary and bowel incontinence.  Ms. Norton is currently a member of the Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health.

Christopher Payne, M.D., FACS is nationally recognized as a leader on issues in female urology having served on NIH advisory panels on urinary incontinence and interstitial cystitis.  Dr. Payne was a member of the panel which defined bladder research priorities for the 21^st century at a meeting sponsored by the Office of Women’s Health Research.  He is a current member of the medical advisory board for the Interstitial Cystitis Association.  Dr. Payne has published numerous articles and book chapters on urinary incontinence and surgical reconstruction.  His expertise in clinical research has been recognized through two NIH principal investigator grants focusing on treatment of interstitial cystitis. In 2008 he served as Chair of the Research Methodology subcommittee for the World Health Organization’s International Consultation on Incontinence.  Dr. Payne’s practice is concentrated in three areas – surgical treatment of urinary incontinence and pelvic prolapse, clinical trials in interstitial cystitis and urinary incontinence, and urodynamic evaluation of complex bladder dysfunction.

Sharon Roberts, RN, BSN, NHA, MA is a Gerontologist with the Lake County Health Department in Illinois.  Ms. Roberts provides information and consultation for 38 nursing homes and 15 assisted living facilities in the county.  In addition to nursing experience in both hospitals and long term care, Ms. Roberts is a licensed nursing home administrator and prior to her current position spent nine years as Director of Patient Care Services in a 248 bed skilled nursing facility.  Her research focus is Alzheimer’s disease and she has published in several journals including the Alzheimer’s Care Quarterly, Geriatric Nursing, and The American Journal of Alzheimer’s Care and related Disorders & Research.  Sharon is a leader in the Pioneer Network serving as a founding member of the Illinois Pioneer Coalition Board and developed a Regional Pioneer Coalition for Lake County, Illinois

Changfeng Tai, Ph.D. received his Ph.D. degree in biomedical engineering from the Xi’an Jiaotong University, China, in 1992.  After his postdoctoral training in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, he joined the Department of Pharmacology as a faculty member.  Currently he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urology at the University of Pittsburgh.  His research interests include functional neuromuscular stimulation to restore urinary bladder functions and locomotion functions after spinal cord injury, model analysis of nerve stimulation, and neurophysiology and pharmacology of the lower urinary tract.  Dr. Tai’s research is funded by NIH and by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.  Dr. Tai is a senior member of IEEE and a member of the Society for Neuroscience.

Karl B. Thor, Ph.D., V.P. Research, Urogenix Inc. (a subsidiary of Astellas Pharmaceuticals, Inc) has studied neural control of lower urinary tract function (LUT) for 27 years and applied this to discovery of novel pharmacological therapies for the treatment of LUT dysfunction, such as duloxetine for stress incontinence.  Dr. Thor has founded 3 companies or subsidiaries that target LUT dysfunction and has served on, and been awarded funding by various NIH, VA, and private non-profit study sections.  He is a member of the International Continence Society and is a member of the World Health Organization’s Continence Basic Science Committee.

Pankaj Vadgama , MB , BS, BSc, Ph.D. RFC Path, CCem, FRSC, CPhs, Flnst, FIM, CScie; Professor Vadgama is currently Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) in Biomedical Materials, Professor of Clinical Biochemistry, and Head of Service in the Department of Clinical Biochemistry Barts, and the Royal London NHS Trust.  Prior to this he was Professor of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Manchester and Professor of Medical Biomaterials, Manchester Materials Science Centre.

page content last updated: 9/06/08