Danforth Elected to Exclusive Urology Leadership Class

Danforth is a clinical associate professor and residency program director in the Department of Urology at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She is also chief of urology at Kaleida Health.

Participation in the AUA Leadership Program aims to enhance leadership skills, expand researchers’ and educators’ networks, and accelerate professional growth. A longtime board member of the AUA’s Northeastern Section, Danforth was elected to the organization’s Leadership Class this spring, in company with emerging top urologists across the country.

Danforth says that joining the leadership class could lead to making a larger, national impact on the field of urology. “I think being a part of this leadership course will put me in a position to make more of an impact at that level and will provide me a better skill set and also provide communities and networking opportunities to meet with mentors,” she says.

Involvement has also meant being able to work with and be mentored by renowned urologists and AUA leaders, Danforth says, and collaborating with other inductees on a collaborative research project. “It’s been a very humbling experience so far, meeting with some amazing people.”

Danforth is co-investigator on two National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases grants: a $3.3 million grant focusing on pelvic pain management and a $1.6 million grant to study catheter-associated urinary tract infection (UTI).

Treating pelvic pain remains especially difficult, Danforth says, because physicians lack strong understanding of chronic pain, and few evidence-based treatment options exist. As part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study, she and colleagues are currently investigating behavioral strategies to improve chronic pelvic pain.

The study explores teaching patients how to self-manage chronic pelvic pain symptoms for high-impact pain disorder where medical treatments fall short.

“It’s been an amazing experience working with a team of people in behavioral medicine who really have an incredible understanding of the emotional connection to physical disability,” Danforth says. “It’s really bridged the gap for patients to feel like they have a newly found support system in a disease process that is very, very lonely.”

Danforth has also studied neurogenic bladder disorder, in which disease or injury disrupts the nervous system’s control of the bladder.

Many patients with neurogenic bladder use catheters, making them prone to UTI. “A huge focus in medical care in the past 10 years is trying to reduce the risk of urinary tract infection,” Danforth says. UTIs can be serious infections, potentially leading to sepsis and death. Hospitals are monitored for their ability to prevent catheter-associated UTIs.

Working with Chelsie E. Armbruster, PhD, associate professor of microbiology and immunology, and other colleagues, Danforth is investigating development of a microbial-resistant catheter. The NIH-funded study also seeks to advance understanding of the bladder microbiome and of the bacterial biofilms, colonies of bacteria that form on surfaces, that can cause UTIs.

Knowing more about these bacterial communities could lead to more tailored treatments for infection and reducing antibiotic resistance by not overtreating otherwise harmless bacteria. Such understanding is also necessary before creating a catheter capable of resisting biofilm formation, Danforth says.

Danforth received her Bachelor of Science degree from UB and completed both her MD and a urology residency at the Jacobs School. She then returned to Western New York to join the school’s faculty following completion of a urology fellowship at the University of Southern California.  

Jeffrey M. Lackner, PsyD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and chief of behavioral medicine in the Department of Medicine, says that in his years knowing Danforth, he’s witnessed her growth and evolution as a clinician and educator and that her work has enriched and elevated the Department of Urology’s research.

“When I first met her, she was always a very technically skilled urologist who provided high-quality care for very complex urologic conditions. But over time, her skills and talents have evolved,” he says. “In addition to her technical skills, she is a fabulous medical educator, role model to residents, and provider of patient-centric care even for those for whom there is no magic cure or fix.”

Lackner, who is principal investigator on the NIH grant investigating pelvic pain management, says that Danforth's AUA appointment recognizes the breadth and impact potential of her abilities across academic medicine.

“It’s recognizing her ability to provide quality clinical care. Her ability as an educator and mentor to the next generation of physician-scientists. Her ability as a key clinical researcher on a landmark NIH grant,” he says. “Dr. Danforth is everything you’d want in an academically oriented physician at a top 25 medical school.”