Fellow
University of California San Diego / Kaiser Permanente San Diego
Julie Suyama, MD, PhD is a clinical and postdoctoral fellow in Urogynecology & Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery at UC San Diego Health/Kaiser Permanente San Diego. She completed her MD, as well as her PhD in Pharmacology & Toxicology, at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond, VA. Her doctoral thesis involved a deep dive into the neurochemical and behavioral determinants of psychostimulant drugs of abuse. After graduating from the MD-PhD Program at VCU, Dr. Suyama completed her residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. During that time, she leveraged her background in Neuroscience to study the effects of nocturia, urinary urgency, and urinary frequency on regional cerebral blood flow using functional MRI. In fellowship, Dr. Suyama's research has focused on validating novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for patients with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome. She is interested in enhancing the field's understanding of central determinants of bladder function and the complex interplay between the brain and the genitourinary system.