Draft:Diana Cardenas

Diana D. Cardenas, MD, MHA is an American physiatrist and is the Professor and Chair Emeritus of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. Cardenas is prolific in her work relating to pain medicine associated with spinal cord injuries, spina bifida, and urinary tract infections, publishing over 100 articles, books, and chapters on spinal cord injuries alone.

= Education = In 1969, Cardenas earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin. She then graduated from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas in 1973, where she obtained her medical degree. In 1976, Cardenas completed her residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation medicine at the University of Washington (UW) where she would subsequently join the faculty in 1981. In 2001, She pursued a master's degree in Health Administration at UW.

= Career = After joining the UW School of Medicine in 1981, Cardenas served as the professor and chief of Rehabilitation Medicine. In 1987, Cardenas served as the clinical director of the University of Washington's Medical College's Spinal Cord Injury Service and in 1990, she became the director of UW Medicine Spinal Cord Injury Clinic.

Cardenas founded an evening education program focused on rehabilitating spinal cord injuries for Puget Sound residents.

In 2004, Cardenas joined the National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Additionally, she was among the 65 members selected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) where she served in two committees that identified areas of future research and made guidelines for improving the field of pain medicine prevention and treatment.

Cardenas joined the Northwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury System (SCI), funded by the National Institute on Diabetes and Rehabilitation Research. At SCI she serves as the principal investigator on studies relating to the urinary tract and injuries to the spinal cord. In a study involving catheter evaluation, she found, "Hydrophilic catheter use for self-IC was associated with reduced numbers of treated UTIs compared to standard non-hydrophilic catheters," and suggested further research on hydrophilic catheters.

At the SCI, Cardenas also worked with Dr. Bilge Yilmaz in a collaboration with the SCI Unit of the Turkish Armed Forces Rehabilitation Center, located in Ankara. She also founded the SCI forums, a monthly publication by the UW Medical Center.

In 2006, after 25 years at UW, Cardenas left to join the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Miami, where she serves as the professor and chair.

= Awards = Cardenas has won two awards. She won the New Jersey Medical School Excellence in Teaching Award in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in 1996 and the 4th Annual Ben L. Boynton, M.D., Lecturer award from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2003.

Who's Who of American Women and the Castle Connolly Guide of America's Top Doctors have included Cardenas in their publications.