About the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders

Administration

• Division Chief: Charles A. Czeisler, PhD, MD

Clinical Directors

BWH Sleep Disorders Service

• Clinical Chief and Medical Director: Lawrence Epstein, MD
• Assistant Medical Director and Director, Outpatient Clinic: Rohit Budhiraja, MD
• South Shore Sleep Medical Director: Jami Johnsen, MD
• Director, Inpatient Sleep Disorders Service: D. Andrew Wellman, MD, PhD
• BWFH Sleep and EEG Testing Center: Milena Pavlova, MD
• BWHSD Out of Center Sleep Testing Program: Salma Batool-Anwar, MD
• Sleep Fellowship Program Director: Lawrence Epstein, MD
• Sleep Fellowship Associate Program Directors: Salma Batool-Anwar, MD and Sogol Javaheri, MD
• Behavioral Sleep Medicine: Suzanne Bertisch, MD
• Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation Therapy, Faulkner Hospital: Rohit Budhiraja, MD and Salma Batool-Anwar, MD
• Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation, South Shore Hospital: Jami Johnsen, MD
• Circadian Rhythm Clinic: Lawrence Epstein, MD & and Milena Pavlova, MD

Research Laboratory and Program Directors

• Research Fellowship Program: Charles A. Czeisler, MD, PhD
• Chronobiology Service: Jeanne F. Duffy, MBA, PhD
• Circadian Physiology Program: Steven W. Lockley, PhD
• Medical Chronobiology Program: Frank A. J. L. Scheer, PhD
• Sleep and Breathing Research Group: D. Andrew Wellman, MD, PhD
• Sleep Medicine Epidemiology: Susan Redline, MD, MPH
• Sleep and Patient Safety Program: Christopher P. Landrigan, MD, MPH
• Sleep Neurology Research: Milena Pavlova, MD

History

The Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders was formed in 2013 by the Departments of Medicine and Neurology to unify the delivery of clinical care, increase educational opportunities and promote interdisciplinary research in the fields of sleep and circadian biology. Its mission is to forge a path of discovery in sleep medicine while providing the highest standard of clinical care for patients with sleep disorders and training the next generation of leaders in sleep and circadian biology.

The division has over 50 faculty and more than 20 postdoctoral fellows who are jointly appointed by the Departments of Medicine and Neurology. In addition, the division has a large number full-time support staff (i.e., administrative staff, technical staff, research assistants, research technicians, graduate students, and student research technicians). It also continues to run a renowned program of training in sleep, circadian, and respiratory neurobiology funded by the NIH/NHLBI National Center for Sleep Disorders Research, with 13 trainee slots.

In 2008, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) recognized one of the division’s predecessors (BWH Department of Medicine, Division Sleep Medicine) as an AASM Comprehensive Academic Sleep Program of Distinction. This was one of the first such programs in the country, and is awarded to academic sleep programs that have demonstrated excellence through compliance with rigorous standards in the areas of clinical service, educational mission, and research accomplishments.

The clinical sleep center, which is accredited by the AASM, encompasses outpatient clinics at BWH Faulkner and South Shore Hospital, sleep laboratory at BWH Faulkner and South Shore Hospital, the BWH Home Sleep Testing Program, and inpatient consultation services at BWH. In addition, there is a Brigham and Women's Hospital affiliated clinic and sleep laboratory at Harbor Medical Associates in Weymouth. The division’s clinicians work collaboratively with a large team of clinical specialists, including psychologists, dentists, otolaryngologists, maxillofacial surgeons, and psychiatrists. Also available are other ancillary personnel to assist with acclimatization to positive airway pressure and other devices. As clinically indicated, sleep studies can be performed in our fully equipped sleep laboratories or in the home.

The research activities of the division include basic investigations of the physiology, pharmacology, and neurobiology of sleep, to clinical studies of the pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment sleep disorders, to field studies of the effects of sleep loss in various populations and occupations, and epidemiologic studies of sleep and its disorders. Scientists within the division conduct studies involving approximately 1,600 inpatient bed-days per year in the Harvard Catalyst Participant and Clinical Interaction Resources (PCIR), including inpatient and outpatient Center for Clinical Investigation units at BWH.