Our Team

Principal Investigators

Nicole De Nisco

Dr. Nicole De Nisco is an Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Urology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Her laboratory studies host-pathogen-microbiome interactions that underlie recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI). The De Nisco lab seeks to inform new therapies for recurrent UTI by interrogating the metabolic relationship between the urinary microbiota and the human host. Additional ongoing collaborative projects in the De Nisco lab are focusing on developing novel UTI vaccine strategies and new UTI diagnostic tools. Dr. De Nisco completed her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Biology in 2007 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Molecular Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013 and completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Click here to visit Dr. De Nisco's Lab.

Philippe Zimmern

Philippe E. Zimmern, MD, is a Professor of Urology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the recipient of the Felecia and John Cain Distinguished Chair in Women’s Health in honor of Philippe E. Zimmern, MD and Director of the John and Felecia Cain Center for Bladder Health. He is also the Director of the Marie and Bernard Zimmern Fund in Female Urology in honor of Philippe E. Zimmern, MD. His expertise covers urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and urinary tract infections.

After his Urology training in France, a fellowship at UCLA, and a second Urology training at UCLA, Dr. Zimmern joined the faculty at UT Southwestern Medical Center in 1995. He is a past President of the Society for Urodynamics and Female Urology (SUFU). Dr. Zimmern co-directs a two-year endowed fellowship program in Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery (URPS). He has been a visiting professor in many countries, co-authored over 400 publications, 29 surgical movies, and 67 book chapters, and co-edited four textbooks on URPS topics. He is URPS certified and a member of FACS. He received the inaugural Leaders in Excellence Award at UT Southwestern Medical Center (2019).

Associate Investigators

Jeremiah Gassensmith, PhD

Researcher (Dr. De Nisco)

Ramy Goueli, MD

Dr. Goueli is an Assistant Professor in the Urology Department at UT Southwestern. His research interests fall under voiding dysfunction, BPH, neuro-urology and female urology.

Kelli Palmer, PhD

Dr. Palmer is a Professor in Biological Sciences at UT Dallas where she holds the Cecil H. and Ida Green Chair in Systems Biology Science.

Shalini Prasad, PhD

Researcher (Dr. De Nisco)

Vladimir Shulaev, PhD

Dr. Shulaev is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of North Texas.

Douglas Strand, PhD

Dr. Strand is an Associate Professor of Urology at UT Southwestern whose research interests fall under benign prostatic hyperplasia, bladder cancer, detrusor dysfunction and prostate cancer. View the Strand Lab here.