UTI Quiz

About Us

We Are A Strong Community Seeking A Better Solution

Our Founder

Melissa Kramer, PhD Candidate

Three years into her own journey with recurrent UTIs, Melissa began interviewing others with similar stories. Now she works with her team of passionate women’s health advocates to share crucial information in order to help others find better UTI testing and treatment.

The journey has resulted in an extensive network of researchers, clinicians and like-minded organizations, and Melissa is always happy to hear from anyone working to help solve the problem of recurrent UTI.

The Team That Makes This Possible

Jess Price

Director of Operations

Jess’ work with Live UTI free stems from a passion to transform the way female patients are perceived within their own healthcare experience. She brings a unique perspective to the team as she has witnessed firsthand the disconnect between patients and the medical community.

Having a background in patient advocacy, she hopes to encourage open communication within the practitioner-patient relationship and open-mindedness toward the diagnostics and treatment of chronic and recurrent UTI.

Katherine Finlay, PhD, CPsychol

Clinical Research Director

Katherine’s research interests focus on the challenge of maintaining quality of life in the face of chronic health conditions. Recognising the complexity of this challenge in chronic and recurrent UTI is what motivated Katherine to join the team at Live UTI Free.

As a Chartered Psychologist at the University of Reading, Katherine specialises in developing interventions to support patients and healthcare professionals in managing UTI and its psychosocial impact. She is committed to creating high-quality UTI impact assessment tools and improving how we support people with UTI within and beyond our health services.

Abbi Newlands, MSc

Associate Director of Research

Abbi’s passion for driving research that brings about real change in underserved areas, particularly for people living with long-term chronic health conditions, inspired her to join the Live UTI Free team.

Currently pursuing a PhD in psychology at the University of Reading, Abbi is determined to lead high-quality research that places patient perspectives at the forefront. Her ultimate goal is to enhance quality of life outcomes and reduce the complex challenges faced by those living with recurrent and chronic UTI.

Saoirse Nash

Director, Ireland

Due to having suffered with recurrent, and eventually chronic, UTI for many years, Saoirse feels passionately about being able to help and support others dealing with this condition. She knows first hand how frightening and lonely it can feel to develop a condition and not have good access to answers and treatment.

She found help through the Live UTI Free website in 2019 and since seeking treatment, her symptoms have improved immensely. This has given her back time and energy – which she is investing towards helping and supporting this community and becoming an active voice in patient advocacy.

Christine Kramer, BAppSc

Community Support

Christine’s background in applied science and medical diagnostics support provides an insightful basis for her work with the Live UTI Free community.

Her strong belief that the right information at the right time can help empower patients towards a resolution stems from her own interest in women’s health and chronic illness. Christine helps ensure Live UTI Free’s readers are connected to appropriate resources.

Kayleigh Maxwell, MSc

Research Associate

Kayleigh stumbled upon the world of recurrent UTI during her MSc in Health Psychology. Having learnt about the immense impact of living with a chronic condition through her studies, her research interests are driven by the desire to improve patient outcomes in chronic illness.

She is now working closely with Live UTI Free and partners to collect, analyse and publish patient-driven data, to help ensure the patient perspective is considered.

Marine Hardouin

Creative Lead

Marine has been part of Live UTI Free’s journey since the early days, helping to bring the team’s vision to life. She uses her deep understanding of online behavior and visual layout to create a welcoming and friendly experience for all who interact with the organization.

Marine’s commitment to her own professional and personal mission ensures the information that Live UTI Free shares is accessible for all members of the community.

Anne Freeman, Published Author

Community Content Manager

Anne Freeman is an author and copywriter. In her creative writing practice, as in life, women-supporting-women is one of her favorite themes. Having lived with Type 1 Diabetes—an incurable autoimmune disease—for more than 20 years, she is acutely empathetic towards anyone living with chronic illness.

Through experiencing healthcare that is often misguided or indifferent, and sometimes downright hostile, she knows the importance of advocating for oneself. She is thrilled to contribute to the chorus of voices sharing crucial women’s health information and improving lives.

Josie Truong

Project Specialist

Josie discovered Live UTI Free while navigating her own struggles with recurrent UTIs. When the opportunity came up to support LUF’s projects, she was eager to apply her business and project management background to help promote the organization’s mission.

Now, she works alongside a community of passionate women’s health advocates to facilitate further research on this condition, increase awareness, and become a voice for patient advocacy.

Melissa Wairimu

Video Editor

Melissa’s own journey with recurrent UTI really impacted her life and affected her overall productivity. She came across the stories of others on Live UTI Free, who had been through similar experiences and managed to break the cycle.

She was motivated to help, and to use her skills in visual communication to spread awareness of an otherwise overlooked female health problem.

Justine Chrisment, MLs

French Content Strategist

Justine, a professional translator with a passion for foreign languages and cultures, wants to make women’s health a priority in France. She used her talent for languages to translate the Live UTI Free website into French and therefore enable French women to benefit from effective treatments.

Informing women about medical developments is an important project that had been on her mind for several years. For her, medical information should circulate freely, without language and culture being an obstacle.

Maiwenn Person, MLs

French Content Manager

For Maiwenn, helping people is the most important aspect of a translator’s work. Working with Live UTI Free has allowed her to achieve this goal. Passionate about multimedia and audio-visual, she is thrilled to work with content from different media and adapt it for the French public.

Maiwenn is proud to manage the French content team and to be able to use her translation skills to educate more people about UTIs, a subject with low awareness in France, even among women.

Molly Bradbury, BSc. Psych

Research Associate

Molly is currently studying for her degree in MSc Health Psychology, and pursuing her placement at Live UTI Free. She has a keen passion for increasing awareness around women’s health issues and reducing stigma associated with them.

Through entering the world of women’s health, Molly hopes to improve patient experience and empower women to fulfill their personal wellbeing.

Evelin Raju, BSc. Psych

Research Associate

Evelin joined Live UTI Free during her MSc in Health Psychology and learned more about the lasting impact of recurrent UTI. Through her experience with the organization and through her course, her interests grew in the field of women’s health especially in terms of research in patient perspectives.

She currently closely works with the Live UTI Free team to collect and analyze data, and assist with publication of patient-centered content.

Auriane De Poorter, BA

French Content Intern

While seeking an internship during her master’s degree in translation, Auriane discovered Live UTI Free. She perceives translation from a feminist point of view and wanted the opportunity to have a positive impact on women’s lives.

Translating for Live UTI Free allows her to spread awareness about a topic that is not discussed enough in France. Easy access to information about UTIs and women’s health should be a priority.

Maylis Chernet, BLs

French Content Intern

Maylis wanted to do something meaningful during her master’s degree in Intercultural Communication and Translation. When she learnt about Live UTI free, she was eager to join the movement and make this valuable information available for French people.

Maylis believes in feminism and equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of their gender. A strong supporter of inclusive writing, she aims to create French content that is as inclusive as possible, in a language that is normally gendered.

Madhu Gundlapally

Author and Doctor in Training

Madhu has always been a strong supporter for patient education and autonomy. She began writing for Live UTI Free to help promote accurate information and healthy discussion in doctor-patient interaction.

Currently training as a doctor of medicine, she hopes to encourage women to educate and advocate for themselves in doctor’s offices.

Emilie Berman, BSc

Author

Emilie stumbled across Live UTI Free while searching for support with her own UTIs. As a Biology major and pre-Med student, she became enamored with the presented science backed information, that allows patients to advocate for themselves.

Emilie is excited to be part of the solution by helping to raise awareness for UTIs and by giving others the tools to do the same.

Deanna Berman ND

Author

Dr Deanna Berman’s journey into natural medicine and her passion for helping women began with her own health issues, including Interstitial Cystitis.

As a Naturopathic Doctor and Certified Midwife, she draws on her understanding of both the necessity for medication and the limitations of natural medicine, to write educational articles for Live UTI Free, particularly around UTI and pregnancy, and functional healing.

Susy Peddie

Co-founder

Susy co-founded Live UTI Free with the belief there’s never been a better time to bring health issues like this out into the open. She’s fascinated with the way technology is revolutionizing the female health space.

Her goal is to help empower others to understand their own bodies, so they can lead a strong and healthy life.

Hannah Heffernan

Co-founder

Hannah’s love for an ambitious mission was more than enough to get her on board as a co-founder of Live UTI Free. Specializing in branding and digital design, she set out to prove that serious health sites need not be ugly.

No stranger to an online symptom search (what modern female isn’t?), Hannah is adamant that good quality, well researched and holistic information should be available for all females.

Annett Borg

Patient Ambassador

You might recognise Annett as the face of Live UTI Free. Annett experienced recurrent UTIs for 15 years before finding a doctor who helped her pursue better testing and get appropriate treatment.

She’s our number one ambassador and a pioneer for sustainability and ethical production in her own industry – fashion. We’re happy to say she’s now UTI free and she’s helping us get better information out there.

Our Advisors

Krystal Thomas-White

PhD

Scientific Research Advisor

Krystal’s passion for women’s health grew from her clinical research on the female urinary microbiome at Loyola University Chicago. The powerful patient stories and promising science led her to dedicate her career to changing the way UTIs are diagnosed and treated.

Now at Stanford University, she investigates how uropathogens interact with the bladder to cause disease, and advises Live UTI Free on scientific rigor.

Alan Wolfe

PhD

Scientific Research Advisor

Alan is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Loyola University Graduate School in Chicago and provides guidance to the team at Live UTI Free on scientific topics related to his work.

As the Co-Founder/Director of the Loyola Urinary Education and Research Collaborative (LUEREC), and the Founder of the Wolfe Lab, much of Alan’s research is centered around the female bladder microbiome and its impact on women’s health and disease.

Lindsey Roberts

PhD

Director of Research & Innovation

Lindsey’s research mission is to improve people’s well-being by considering health through the ‘One Health’ perspective, which includes making the most of the medicines we have at our disposal (particularly antibiotics), reducing our waste and increasing sustainability globally.

Lindsey believes that addressing inequalities and poor communication in healthcare is imperative, and is committed to researching current problems, designing and evaluating novel interventions, and reporting on positive outcomes we can adopt within our community.

Michael Hsieh

MD, PhD, FASTMH

Urological Research Advisor

Michael Hsieh serves as the Director of Transitional Urology at the Children’s National Health System and the George Washington University. His strong research focus and belief that the patient perspective is a crucial part of this research, prompted him to connect with Live UTI Free in its early stages.

Dr. Hsieh runs a bladder biology research group and is developing a broader microbiology research program across multiple laboratories. He collaborates with Live UTI Free to help connect the patient community with new chronic UTI research.

Catriona Anderson

MBChB, MRCGP, BSc(Hons), DFSRH, BMS cert menopause

Women’s Health Advisor

Dr. Anderson divides her time between NHS and private practice, and across multiple specialties including recurrent and chronic UTI, vaginal problems and menopause. Her scientific background affords her an in-depth understanding of chronic UTI, and she collaborates with several research organizations, including Live UTI Free.

As Live UTI Free’s resident women’s health expert, Dr. Anderson channels her experience with established and complementary treatment approaches into guiding the team on research design and patient-centered content.

Emil Lamprecht

BAS

Founder, Product Lead

Emil has co-founded, built and supported business and impact organizations in 30+ countries. He helped found Live UTI Free out of a profound frustration with gender inequality in health care, and a desire to support women suffering from curable diseases.

As product lead Emil has led design and management of the Live UTI platform since day one, and continues to ensure its success and availability to the world at large.

Janet Alexandersson

LLM Human & Health Rights

Legal Advisor
& Ethics Board Member

Janet loves working with teams who change the world, one issue at a time. Advising the team at Live UTI Free provides an opportunity for her to delve deeper into her specialties – health, sexual and reproductive rights.

By successfully navigating the legalities and ethics of health empowerment and outreach, Janet allows the rest of the team to focus on spreading their message effectively.

Susie Masterson

BACP

Business Advisor

Susie started supporting the Live UTI Free as a business coach and sales strategy advisor a couple of years ago. As a passionate advocate of female founders and ethical startups, she is no stranger to gender bias.

As a psychotherapist, Susie often meets women with undiagnosed chronic health conditions. She hopes that strengthening engagement across all groups within the UTI space, will improve women’s physiological and mental health.

Why We Created This Website

7 million

females experience a UTI each year in the USA

26 - 44%

will have a UTI recurrence within 6 months

7 OUT OF 10

don’t believe their UTI treatment will work

Zero

accurate standard testing options available

Chronic, recurrent UTIs affect millions of females and may be caused by an underlying bladder infection that goes undiagnosed and ineffectively treated.

The right information can lead to better testing to identify the cause of the infection and ultimately to finding a permanent solution. That’s where we come in.

How You Can Get Involved

If you have experience with recurrent UTIs

If you’re a practitioner or researcher

Read more about our community guidelines here, and learn how we work with partners here.

Our Inclusive Policy

At Live UTI Free we strive for gender inclusive language and we aim to get this right wherever we can. Our site and the information on it are designed to be universally clear and friendly, with all users in mind. You can read more about our policy here.

Have You Taken Our Quiz?

We know the right information can be hard to find. Answering a few questions can help us send you straight to the information that is relevant to you. It also contributes to our ongoing research.

Take The UTI Quiz