[2] McDermott joined the faculty at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in 1994 and began investigating how to improve the health in people with peripheral extremity artery disease (PAD).
[3] She was the first principal investigator to demonstrate that "asymptomatic leg ischemia is associated with greater lower extremity impairment and increased rates of functional decline," compared to those without PAD.
[11] During the COVID-19 pandemic in North America, McDermott continued to run tests to measure the efficacy of drug or exercise interventions on Northwestern's downtown campus.
"[3] She also continued to research peripheral extremity artery disease and found that stem cell therapy did not improve walking ability in people in those patients.
[17] In 2021, McDermott received a John M. Eisenberg award for lifetime achievement in research from the Society of General Internal Medicine, along with Diane B. Wayne.