Dr. Damas’ Research Overview
Dr. Oriana M. Damas is an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Damas received her medical degree from the University of Miami. She completed her internal medicine training at Jackson Memorial Hospital and then went on to complete fellowship training in gastroenterology at the Miller School and served as chief gastroenterology fellow. Dr. Damas received training in translational inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) research as a UCB/IBD Working Group grant recipient in her last year of fellowship training. She is also now enrolled in a Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Investigation.
Dr. Damas specializes in the care of inflammatory bowel disease patients, including those with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. She is Director of Translational Studies for the Crohn’s and Colitis Center at the University of Miami. As director, Dr. Damas oversees changes in the IBD REDCap data collection and clinic collection efforts as well as data quality management. Her research focuses on understanding genetic and environmental triggers of IBD development. Dr. Damas has described epidemiologic, phenotypic characteristics and IBD-related complications of an emerging population of IBD in South Florida, the Hispanic community. As part of this effort, she has received funding to begin a Global Studies in IBD effort with concentration in Latin America. Dr. Damas has provided educational talks in IBD in various countries in Latin America and has begun research collaborations with doctors in Latin America in order to better understand the burden of IBD in developing countries. In recent years, Dr. Damas has also begun to investigate the role that the environment and genetics play on IBD outcomes, including the impact of diet as adjunctive therapy and precision medicine approaches using pharmacogenetics to improve risk stratification for IBD patients. Her work is supported by an NIH K23 Career Development Award, a Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center grant and pharmaceutical grants.
Dr. Damas is also very active in the IBD community both nationally and locally. She is a member of several national committees. She is an IBD councilor for the IMIBD Section of DDW where she helps to develop the content for the IBD section of DDW. In a similar role, she participates actively in the content planning of the Crohn’s and Colitis Congress. She is also part of the Rising Educators Academics and Clinicians Helping IBD (REACH-IBD) Committee of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation and has also received various national distinctions including being selected for the AGA Forward Program, an NIH-funded effort for promising early career physician scientists that forms part of the American Gastroenterological Association. Locally, Dr. Damas is the CMAC Chair of South Florida for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and she actively participates in the yearly Takes Steps Walk Fundraiser for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. As team captain, Dr. Damas and the Crohn’s and Colitis Center at UM have topped their fundraising efforts yearly and have had a great time doing so.
In her spare time, Dr. Damas enjoys spending time with her two kids and husband, traveling or exploring all the local reefs and marine environments in Miami.
For more details, please see her UM faculty profile.