Grants & Prizes Committee

Committee members have quarterly online meetings and are expected to review a variety of grants and prizes as follows:

The ISSM Grants & Prizes Committee is responsible for reviewing and/or making recommendations for the following grants and prizes on an annual basis. Reviews take place during the months of April, May and June.

•         ISSM Scholarships to the ESSM School of Sexual Medicine and Advanced Course

•         ISSM Zorgniotti Fund

•         ISSM Excellence in Research Award

•         ISSM Rising Star Award

•         Travel stipends to WMSM

In addition, committee members may be asked to contribute to a bi-annual report (mid-term and end of the year), prepared by the committee chair for review by the President and ISSM Board.

Expected time commitment per month: 5 hours

Marieke Dewitte is a clinical psychologist- sexologist who had her training in Belgium and The Netherlands and completed her PhD at Ghent University, Belgium. She currently works as assistant professor at the Department of Clinical Psychological Science of the University of Maastricht, The Netherlands.

She teaches several courses and workshops on sexual responding at the university and in post- academic sexology trainings. Her research involves psychophysiological studies on basic mechanisms of sexual functioning, gender differences, interpersonal dynamics, dyadic interactions between partners, and attachment in relation to sexual responding. The main focus of her research is on the sexual interaction between partners. Her clinical (research) focus is on female genital pain. She also worked as sex therapist at Ghent University Hospital and now at Maastricht University Hospital. She is editor- in- chief of the Dutch Journal of Sexology and Secretary General of ESSM.

Professor in Urology- Andrology
Dept. of Urology in Cerrahpasa School of Medicine, Istanbul University- Cerrahpasa Turkey
Executive Committee Member ESSM
Member of ISSM Grants & Prizes Committee

Dr. Amjad Alwaal, MD, MSc, FRCSC, FACS is a fellowship-trained expert in sexual medicine and reconstructive urology. He is currently an Associate Professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, NJ, USA. Dr. Alwaal has over 50 published articles and book chapters. He is part of the Grants & Prizes Committee at ISSM and also a member of the Fellowship Grants Committee at SMSNA.

Cezar Hayoshi Choji, MD.Graduate as medical doctor from Universidade Estadual de Londrina(UEL).Working on male sexual medicine in Florianópolis, Brazil.Active member of International Society of Sexual Medicine (ISSM) and Associação Brasileira de Saúde Sexual Masculina (Abrassem).

Prof. El-Sakka was graduated from medical school, Suez Canal university, Ismailia, Egypt, and completed a residency-training program in Urology and Andrology. He was trained as a fellow at the department of urology, university of California San Francisco. He holds several positions including the president of Middle East society for sexual medicine, president section of Andrology at Egyptian urological association, vice president of the Egyptian society for sexual medicine and surgery and chairman of urology department at Suez Canal university.
His basic science research encompasses development of animal models for the study of Peyronie’s disease, cryoablation of cavernous nerve injury, diabetes mellitus, and arteriogenic erectile dysfunction.
His clinical research includes surgical and non-surgical treatment of erectile dysfunction, Peyronie’s disease and the association between risk factors, medical co-morbidities, hormonal abnormality and male sexual dysfunction.

Dr. Wayne J.G. Hellstrom is a Professor of Urology and the Chief of Andrology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the past President of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America, the American Society of Andrology, and the International Society of Sexual Medicine. Dr. Hellstrom has authored or co-authored over 100 book chapters and more than 560 peer-reviewed journal articles. He received his M.D. from McGill University in Montreal, where he also completed a residency in general surgery. He then went on to complete a urology residency at the University of California, San Francisco, followed by an AUA scholar-funded fellowship in andrology at the University of California, Davis.

Dr K. Promodu is a Clinical Psychologist, Sex Therapist, and EFS-ESSM Certified Psycho-Sexologist. Has been practising in the field of Sexual Medicine for the last 37 years. Dr. Promodu completed his Masters in Psychology from the University of Kerala in 1984. He took an MPhil in Medical & Social Psychology and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the Central Institute of Psychiatry, India. Dr Promodu was a faculty member at the Government Medical College in Kerala. In 2006, he established Dr. Promodu’s Institute of Sexual & Marital Health, which has a multidisciplinary focus on sexual medicine. The institute has catered to about forty-two thousand patients so far. Dr. Promodu is a Pioneer in sex therapy in India. His passion is in the area of inpatient sex therapy for unconsummated marriage and vaginismus. He has designed a ‘Three weeks short-term inpatient sex therapy’ for unconsummated marriages. He has publications to his credit. Dr Promodu contributed widely to building public awareness of sexual health through various television and radio programmes and print and social media articles. He was a member of the 5th International Consultation Committee on Sexual Medicine 2024.

Dr. Carolyn Salter is a fellowship trained urologist with a focus on male sexual and reproductive medicine. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and her medical degree from the military medical school, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). She completed her urology residency at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and went on to attend fellowship in male sexual and reproductive medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Dr. Salter is an active- duty officer in the United States Army. She is currently an attending urologist at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington, USA, and an associate professor at USUHS. Her research interests focus on testosterone deficiency, Peyronie’s disease, erectile dysfunction, and sexual incontinence.