Dr. Clarkson is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of the Continence Research Unit. Dr. Clarkson originally trained as a physicist and her doctoral research focused on developing clinical tests and diagnostic tools related to bladder dysfunction. She has since transitioned to studying the role of the brain in bladder dysfunction. Her NIH-funded research focuses on the link between the brain and the bladder in urge urinary incontinence, specifically environmental triggers of urinary leakage. In addition, she is using her expertise in medical technology to investigate brain-based therapies for urge incontinence, including transcranial direct current stimulation and de-conditioning strategies such as cue exposure and mindfulness.
- MPhys, Astrophysics, University of Manchester, 2004
- MSc, Medical Physics, Leeds University, 2005
- PhD, Newcastle University, UK, 2010
Education & Training
Conklin CA, Coffman B, Greco CM, Tyagi S, Clarkson BD. Mindfulness and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to Attenuate Situational Urgency Urinary Incontinence (UUI): A randomized pilot study. Continence (Amst). 2025 Jun;14:101765. PMID: 40747290.
Clarkson BD, Karim HT, Chermansky CJ, Banihashemi L, Tyagi S, Griffiths DJ, Resnick NM. Changes in brain response to urgency before and after treatment of urgency urinary incontinence with onabotulinumtoxin A. Neurourol Urodyn. 2022 Nov;41(8):1703-1710. PMID: 35904238.
Clarkson BD, Wei Z, Karim HT, Tyagi S, Resnick NM, Salkeld RP, Conklin CA. Neuroimaging of situational urgency and incontinence provoked by personal urgency cues. Neurourol Urodyn. 2022 Jan;41(1):166-173. PMID: 34570403.
Groenendijk IM, Mehnert U, Groen J, Clarkson BD, Scheepe JR, Blok BFM. A systematic review and activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of the central innervation of the lower urinary tract: Pelvic floor motor control and micturition. PLoS One. 2021 Feb 3;16(2):e0246042. PMID: 33534812.
Clarkson BD, Karim HT, Griffiths DJ, Resnick NM. Testing a new, intensified infusion-withdrawal protocol for urinary urgency provocation in brain-bladder studies. Neurourol Urodyn. 2021 Jan;40(1):131-136. PMID: 33118637.
Clarkson BD, O Connell K, Conklin CA. Reproducing situationally triggered urgency incontinence in a controlled environment. Neurourol Urodyn. 2020 Nov;39(8):2520-2526. PMID: 32976670.
Tyagi S, Perera S, Clarkson BD, Tadic SD, Resnick NM. Nocturnal Excretion in Healthy Older Women and Rationale for a Safer Approach to Sleep Disruption. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2019 Dec;67(12):2610-2614. PMID: 31437310.
Clarkson BD, Karim HT, Griffiths DJ, Resnick NM. Functional connectivity of the brain in older women with urgency urinary incontinence. Neurourol Urodyn. 2018 Nov;37(8):2763-2775. PMID: 30054930.
Clarkson BD, Griffiths D, Resnick NM. Do brain structural abnormalities differentiate separate forms of urgency urinary incontinence? Neurourol Urodyn. 2018 Nov;37(8):2597-2605. PMID: 29672906.
Clarkson BD, Tyagi S, Griffiths DJ, Resnick NM. Test-retest repeatability of patterns of brain activation provoked by bladder filling. Neurourol Urodyn. 2017 Aug;36(6):1472-1478. PMID: 27778370.
- Member: Institute for Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM, UK), 2004
- Best Non-Clinical Abstract Presentation International Continence Society Award – ICS 2011, Glasgow UK, 2011
- Member: ICS Urodynamic Equipment Standardization Group (Gammie A, Clarkson B, et al, "International Continence Society Guidelines on Urodynamic Equipment Performance" Neurouro Urodynam), 2014
- CNS Processing of Bladder Signals. AUS Summer Research Conference, Linthicum, MD, 2014
- International Neurourology meeting, Zurich, Switzerland, 2019
- Neurogenic Bladder Research Group Annual Meeting, Houston TX, 2019
- AUGS State of the Science Conference, Bethesda MD, 2021
- BAUS Conference, Birmingham UK, 2023
