The Intersection of Regenerative Medicine and Women’s Health: A Workshop

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Historical exclusion of women from basic, translational, and clinical research has led to an inadequate understanding of sex-based biological differences on health and disease burden and lack of therapies for women's health. In October 2024, the National Academies Forum on Regenerative Medicine and Forum on Temporomandibular Disorders hosted a public workshop to consider gaps within regenerative medicine research related to conditions that are female-specific and/or are more common in or differently impact women; explore emerging and potential regenerative medicine therapies and technologies for these conditions; and examine women's representation within the regenerative medicine workforce.

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14 pages · 8.5 x 11 ·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-09899-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/29088

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. The Intersection of Regenerative Medicine and Women's Health: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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Kimberlee Potter

Kimberlee Potter, Ph.D., is the Scientific Portfolio Manager of Surgery, Trauma, and Restorative Medicine in the Office of Research and Development at the Department of Veterans Affairs. She oversees research on musculoskeletal disorders, frailty, geroscience, and surgery. She is the co-founder of the VA’s Biofabrication Community of Science and serves on the VA’s Women’s Health IPT. Her other roles include VA representative on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Forum for Regenerative Medicine, the External Advisory Board for Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, and the Programmatic Committee for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program for Reconstructive Transplantation Research Program. Before joining VA, Dr. Potter worked at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) as the Technical Director of the Magnetic Resonance Microscopy Facility where she applied non-invasive imaging techniques to the study of forensic, pathologic, and engineered tissues. She worked with the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiners on the human cases of blast-induced traumatic brain injury and the application of medical imaging in virtual autopsies. She received her B.Sc. degree in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University in Canada and her Ph.D. from Cambridge University in England. She completed her post-doctoral training at the University of California at Santa Barbara in the Department of Chemical & Nuclear Engineering, after which she served as a visiting scientist at the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute on Child Health and Human Diseases.

Vivian Ota Wang

Vivian Ota Wang, Ph.D., as a psychologist, geneticist, and genetic counselor, has domestic and global experiences in research, education, policy, and ethics that span biomedical, psychological, genomic, nanoscale, and data sciences. She applies her expertise and scientific leadership as the NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health’s Deputy Director. Previously, she was a Lead at the Office of Data Science Strategy where she envisioned and spearheaded the RADx Tribal Data Repository, the first NIH sovereignty-based research data repository. Her other public service includes the inaugural NCI-NIH Office of Data Sharing Deputy Director, NHGRI-NIH Data Access and Sharing and Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) Research Program Directors, Senior Advisor to NIH’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Director and Executive Office of the President (Bush/Obama administrations) where she developed public engagement & ELSI guidance for nanoscience/nanotechnology. Prior to public service, she was a genetic counselor at the University of Colorado, and held tenure-track faculty positions at Rutgers, Arizona State, and Vanderbilt universities. . Her clinical expertise is in congenital & acquired disabilities, traumatic brain injury, and bereavement. Her accomplishments are recognized by university, professional, and government awards. She earned a BA-Biology (Colorado College), MS-Genetic Counseling (University of Colorado) and MPhil/PhD-Counseling Psychology (Columbia University). She is an American Medical Association Fellow (American College of Medical Genetics), and a diplomate of the American Psychological Association, American Board of Medical Genetics, and American Board of Genetic Counseling, and is a licensed psychologist.

Alejandro Almarza

Alejandro Almarza, Ph.D., is a professor in Oral and Craniofacial Sciences in the School of Dental Medicine with a secondary appointment in the Department of Bioengineering and the University of Pittsburgh McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine. His research interests are temporomandibular joint cartilage and bone regeneration and biomechanics; identifying appropriate polymeric scaffolds for tissue engineering approaches for tri-layer interface tissues; arthritis from altered loading; 3D innervation patterns imaged with light sheet microscopy, and CRISPR epigenome modulation for pain and joint damage.

Cristina H. Amon

Cristina H. Amon, Sc.D., is a University Professor, Alumni Distinguished Professor and Dean Emerita at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. Under her leadership, Canada’s #1 ranked engineering school has become a global hub for inter-disciplinary research and education known for its strategic Faculty-wide initiatives, cross-Faculty centres and institutes, and innovative undergraduate and graduate programming.

Prior to joining U of T in 2006, she was the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute for Complex Engineered at Carnegie Mellon University. She has pioneered the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics and the development of multidisciplinary multi-scale hierarchical modelling, concurrent design and optimization methodologies for thermo-fluid transport phenomena, with applications to thermal management of electronics and electric vehicles, renewable energy and biomedical devices.

Professor Amon was appointed to the Order of Canada and inducted into the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Hispanic Engineer Hall of Fame, Royal Society of Canada, Spanish Royal Academy and US National Academy of Engineering. She is a fellow of all major professional societies in her field and has contributed over 400 refereed articles to the education and research literature.

Among her many accolades, she received the ASEE Westinghouse Medal, ASEE Ralph Coats Roe Award, ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award, ASME InterPACK Achievement Award, EIC Sir John Kennedy Medal, and CSME Robert W. Angus Medal. She was recognized as one of Canada’s Most Influential Women in 2012, received the Engineers Canada Award for the Support of Women, was named one of the YWCA’s Women of Distinction, and received the highest honor for Engineers in Canada (2020 Engineers Canada Gold Medal) and Ontario (2015 PEO Gold Medal) for outstanding engineering public service, technical excellence and professional leadership.

Cristina Amon is the founding chair of the Global Engineering Deans Council and has served on numerous editorial and technical conference roles, advisory and review boards in North America and abroad. She received her Mechanical Engineering degree from Simon Bolivar University in Venezuela, and her M.S. and Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Tammy R.L. Collins

Tammy Collins, Ph.D., is a program officer with the Burroughs Wellcome Fund where she leads the Fund’s efforts in interdisciplinary science, including the Career Awards at the Scientific Interface, and regulatory science. She spent the past decade with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) as director of the NIEHS Office of Fellows’ Career Development. Her work included a focus on increasing mentorship at NIEHS and publishing results of NIEHS postdoctoral career outcomes. Dr. Collins received her B.S. in Chemistry from Appalachian State University, where she became Appalachian’s first Goldwater Scholar and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Duke University. After a brief postdoc at Duke University, she joined NIEHS as a postdoc in 2009 where she developed her passion for working in the scientific career development field.

Margot Damaser

Margot Damaser, Ph.D., earned her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of California Berkeley & San Francisco joint program in Bioengineering. She then completed 2 postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Lund in Sweden and at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA USA. For over 25 years, she has led a laboratory conducting research on the causes of and treatments for female pelvic floor disorders, including stress urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and fecal incontinence. Dr. Damaser and her team have developed and used animal models to test novel regenerative therapeutics for female 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. In collaboration with a team of engineers and physicians, Dr. Damaser has also developed several novel wireless catheter-free devices for improved diagnosis and treatment of incontinence. She has also She holds 6 issued US Patents and has 3 pending US Patent applications. Dr. Damaser has over 200 peer-reviewed publications and has had continuous research funding from VA and NIH for over 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. Dr. Damaser has won multiple awards for innovative science, her scientific writing, and her outstanding mentoring. In 2004, Dr. Damaser received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, awarded to her for outstanding research on the human urinary bladder using mathematical modeling along with physiological and neurological studies. In 2014 she was elected by her colleagues to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows, representing the top 2% of medical and biological engineers. More recently, in 2022, Dr. Damaser was awarded the prestigious Society of Women in Urology (SWIU) – Society of Basic Science Research (SBUR) Award for Excellence in Urologic Research. Dr. Damaser was recently inducted as a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors in Washington DC.

Elizabeth Garner

Elizabeth (Beth) Garner, M.D., M.P.H., is a seasoned strategic- and business-minded pharmaceutical executive and corporate board member with a career-long focus on addressing unmet medical needs that affect women’s health and quality of life. Born and raised in Nigeria, she brings a global view to her work in both the corporate and non-profit worlds. Most recently, Dr. Garner was Chief Scientific Officer of Ferring Pharmaceuticals US, a mid-size global company focused on reproductive and maternal health, microbiome and gastrointestinal therapeutics, and uro-oncology. From 2019-2022, she was Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of ObsEva, a company focused on addressing unmet needs in women’s health. Prior to that, she was CMO of Agile Therapeutics, where she led the company’s clinical development, regulatory, and medical affairs strategies, including designing and leading the Phase 3 SECURE trial which led to FDA approval of the Twirla contraceptive patch. Dr. Garner has also held leadership roles at Myriad Genetics, Abbott Laboratories, and at Merck Research Labs where she was a key contributor on the Gardasil and Gardasil9 vaccines.

Dr. Garner is an experienced corporate board member and is currently on the Boards of Directors of Kezar Life Sciences (KZR), which develops novel therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer, Sermonix Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on targeted breast cancer therapies, and is Chair of the Board of NUA Surgical, a start-up company dedicated to creating innovative surgical solutions in obstetrics and gynecology. She is also the Immediate Past President of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), a professional organization whose mission is to advance women physicians, advocate for equity, and ensure excellence in healthcare.

Beth received joint M.D. and M.P.H. degrees from Harvard Medical and Public Health Schools, trained in obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham and Women’s (BWH)/Massachusetts General Hospitals, and completed a fellowship in gynecologic oncology at BWH/Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Prior to transitioning into industry in 2007, she was Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, where she focused on academic clinical practice in gynecologic oncology, basic science ovarian cancer research, and teaching and mentorship of medical students, residents, and fellowship trainees.

Elizabeth has extensive experience as a media spokesperson and is a frequent panelist and speaker on a range of topics including innovation and investment in women’s health, women’s leadership, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and diversity in clinical trials. She is an author on close to 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers and published her first essay in
(https://hms.harvard.edu/magazine/womens-health/cri-de-coeur). Garner is a 2019 and 2023 awardee of the PharmaVoice 100 Most Inspiring Individuals in the life sciences industry and was the 2022 recipient of the Woman in Science Award from the American Medical Women’s Association.

Juan Gnecco

Juan Gnecco, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University and associate Principal Investigator at the Mother Infant Research Institute (MIRI) at Tufts Medical Center. His work lies at the interface of tissue engineering and reproductive biology to understand the immune-endocrine mechanisms driving uterine physiology and disease pathogenesis. Dr. Gnecco obtained his B.S. in Biotechnology from Rutgers University, and a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Pathology from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) where he developed the first organ-on-chip (OoC) model of the perivascular endometrium to study the effects exerted by environmental toxicants on the female reproductive tract. Dr. Gnecco conducted his post-doctoral training at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Department of Biological Engineering where he led efforts to transform the human clinical relevance of 3-dimensional (3D) reproductive tract models by defining the interplay between biophysical and cellular cues using organoid technologies and high-content 3D imaging approaches. He has been awarded three rounds of funding from Gates Foundation (2018-present) for his work building phenotypic 3D models of the endometrial microenvironment. He is the project lead in the World Endometriosis Research Foundation (WERF) Experimental Organoid Model Unification initiative, was selected as a Rising Star in Engineering and Health by Columbia University, and serves on the editorial board for Frontiers in Reproductive Health. He is committed to advance women’s health through inclusive educational engineering strategies.

Eric Sid

Eric Sid, M.D., M.H.A., joined the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) in the Division of Rare Diseases Research Innovation in 2017, for which he is currently a Program Director and manages a public health information center focuses on patients affected by rare diseases, coordinates other programs that enable patient organizations to actively engage in the research process by providing educational and training support, and as a scientist on projects targeted at improving diagnostics across genetic and rare diseases. Dr. Sid represents NCATS on the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) UNITE initiative, which was established to identify and address structural racism within the NIH-supported and greater scientific community, as well as the Trans-NIH Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility Strategic Plan Working Group. Sid is the current chair for NCATS’ Inclusion, Diversity, Equity in Action (IDEA) Council. Dr. Sid received his M.D. and M.H.A. (Masters in Healthcare Administration) from the University of Washington. He completed a Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF), which is the Federal Government's flagship leadership development program, for which he was stationed at the NIH and with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Eric’s interests are in advancing the use of information science in accelerating the dissemination of research for public health uses, the engagement and partnership of patient organizations in research, and fostering greater diversity, equity, inclusivity, and accessibility across the biomedical research enterprise for the benefit of patients and their communities.

Katherine Tsokas

Katherine Tsokas, J.D., has over 30 years of progressive global regulatory experience in small and large sized Pharma companies. She has worked on products at various stages of development, from early through to filing, approval, and commercialization.

Katherine is the Vice President Regulatory, Quality, Risk Management and Drug Safety for Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine (J&J IM) Canada. As part of the J&J IM Canada Leadership Team, she is responsible for the Regulatory strategy, including leadership oversight for Drug Safety, Risk Management and Commercial Quality. In this role she works closely with the J&J IM Global and North American organizations and assures J&J IM as a key partner with Health Canada and external trade associations. She holds a position on the Innovation Medicines Canada (IMC) Regulatory Operations Team.

Previously, Katherine was the Regulatory Head of Regenerative Medicine & Advanced Therapy (RMAT). In this role, she ensured global regulatory policy strategies contributed to and supported development plans for RMAT products across several therapeutic areas and facilitated J&J enterprise wide efforts to enhance awareness and connectivity for the development of processes that enable assessing, partnering, and developing safe and effective advanced therapies globally. She also headed the Global Regulatory Affairs (GRA) Data Science team focused on the use of Data Science in regulatory decision making and represented GRA on cross-functional Leadership teams.

Katherine continues to hold external RMAT leadership roles as Co-chair of the National Academy Science Engineering Medicine Regenerative Medicine Forum, and Advanced Therapy Industry Liaison of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Regulatory Harmonization Steering Committee. Additionally, Katherine is an adjunct professor at Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science teaching Introduction to Global Regulatory Affairs. She received her Bachelor of Science Biology from Temple University, Juris Doctorate from Widener University Law School, and is admitted to the practice of law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Kathleen Zackowski

Kathleen Zackowski, Ph.D., is the Associate Vice President for Research at the National MS Society. She manages the Society’s research portfolio focused on clinical and rehabilitation care, the development of the Society’s Wellness Initiative, as well as the Society’s Community Review of MS Research committee. In addition, Dr. Zackowski serves on the scientific leadership team of the International Progressive MS Alliance. Dr. Zackowski received her Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in movement science and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in neuroscience and neurology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Following her post-doctoral fellowship she joined the faculty in the Departments of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Neurology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Kennedy Krieger Institute where she ran her laboratory for 15 years, investigating the mechanisms that underlie sensorimotor impairments and disability resulting from damage to the central nervous system. She remains on faculty as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Departments of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Neurology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Dr. Zackowski is also an Occupational Therapist with 25 years of clinical experience in adult rehabilitation, having an MS practice for over 15 years in treating individuals with multiple sclerosis at the Johns Hopkins MS Center.

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The Intersection of Regenerative Medicine and Women’s Health: A Workshop

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Forum on Temporomandibular Disorders

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Suggested citation

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The Intersection of Regenerative Medicine and Women’s Health: A Workshop

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Featured publication

The Intersection of Regenerative Medicine and Women's Health: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief

Description

Collaborators

Committee

Sponsors

Staff

Parent projects

Board on Health Sciences Policy

Forum on Regenerative Medicine

Forum on Temporomandibular Disorders

Major units and sub-units

Contact

Contact us

Provide feedback

Request materials

More like this

Forum on Temporomandibular Disorders

Extreme Weather Events and Insurance Webinar Series

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Prevention of and Response to Sexual Harassment in Higher Education: Tools for Department Chairs and Principal Investigators: A Workshop

State of Human H5N1 Therapeutics: A Rapid Expert Consultation

Biomedical and Health Sciences Program Area

Neurodegenerative Outcomes and Selected Military Exposures