Project Sleep’s Expert Advisory Board includes clinicians, researchers, patients and advocates who are thought leaders and trailblazers in their respective fields. This board marks one of the first times patient advocates are included on a non-profit organization’s Expert Advisory Board in the sleep space. We strongly believe that including people with first-hand lived experiences will foster more fruitful discussions and lead to better outcomes.
This powerful group generously donates their time and expertise to support Project Sleep’s Board of Directors by bringing updates from the field that help develop ideas and direction for new programming. Together, they work to accelerate our mission of improving public health by educating individuals and communities about the importance of sleep health, sleep equity, and sleep disorders.
Diana Anderson is a physician assistant who lives in Knoxville, TN and a trained speaker with Project Sleep’s Rising Voices program. She loves the ever-changing experience of motherhood that comes with raising her 5-year-old son, Logan. Diana was diagnosed with type 2 narcolepsy at the age of 34 and had symptoms for over 10 years before receiving this diagnosis. She attended and graduated from PA school while experiencing excessive daytime sleepiness which, for Diana, included sleep attacks while in lecture and lab sessions. Diana considers it a special feat to have conquered a master’s program while feeling like she had not slept for 48-72 hours each day.
Diana is dedicated to raising awareness about various sleep disorders, as many are often overlooked, misdiagnosed, or brushed off and can result in difficulty with participating in or completing activities of daily living. She strongly believes that advocating for not only people living with sleep disorders but also caring for those living with sleep disorders is crucial to help bridge the gap from the time of symptom onset to receiving a diagnosis.
Alida Abdullah is a wife and mother of 4, and an Educator, Author, and Coach. She was diagnosed twice with sleep apnea. The first time was after the birth of her second child, at which time she was overweight. She was prescribed a CPAP, but was frustrated with its cumbersome invasiveness, especially while breastfeeding and taking care of her small child during the night. She lost weight and thought she was “cured” of sleep apnea, but was diagnosed with hypertension, which was a shock because of her active lifestyle. Five years later after a routine visit with an ENT, she learned that sleep apnea could cause hypertension (as well as reflux and a host of other issues), and took her sleep apnea more seriously, but still couldn’t fully benefit from CPAP therapy.
Alida is currently working with a dentist specializing in sleep apnea to implement alternative strategies to manage her condition. Alida is passionate about sharing her story because African-American women may be overlooked in this area and could be suffering from other life-threatening illnesses without even knowing the root cause.
Dr. Allan Pack is the Assistant Dean and Director of Global Sleep Programs, Perelman School of Medicine, at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, with an M.B.Ch.B and a Ph.D. on Mathematical Models Of Lung Function.
Dr. Pack is pursuing research on genetics/genomics of sleep and its disorders. He is committed to research training and directs three training grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Pack’s clinical expertise is in sleep disorders with a particular focus on the diagnosis and management of obstructive sleep apnea.
Links:
https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g275/p20166
Dr. Anne Marie Morse is a board-certified and fellowship-trained pediatric neurologist. Her clinical interests include sleep-wake disorders in neurologic disease, narcolepsy and hypersomnia disorders and neuroimmunology. Her research interests include sleep-wake disorders in neurologic disease, hypersomnia disorders and sleep-wake disorder phenotyping. Dr. Morse earned her degree in osteopathy from Rowan University. She completed her residency and her child neurology fellowship at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center. She completed another fellowship in sleep medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Montefiore Medical Center. Dr. Morse is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in neurology with special qualification in child neurology.
Links:
https://providers.geisinger.org/provider/anne+marie+morse/756868
Chelsea Cataldi may have been born and raised in New Mexico, but she’s an avid adventurer and has traveled the world. She was actually living in Japan when she received her Narcolepsy Type 1 diagnosis as an adult in 2010. Experiencing hypnogogic hallucinations, sleep paralysis, and vivid dreams has been terrifying. Fortunately, Chelsea thanks modern medicine and her passion for creativity as helping her to cope with the difficult symptoms of narcolepsy. Whether she’s sewing a wedding dress for a friend, designing a quilt for the newest baby in the family, cooking a unique dish, or baking homemade sourdough, Chelsea keeps busy with her many interests.
Professionally speaking, Chelsea has worked for the US government, non-profit organizations, and for-profit companies, in addition to holding numerous volunteer positions. She completed the Rising Voices speaker training in 2020. Following the footsteps of those who came before her, she has embraced being a storyteller and now uses her voice to advocate for narcolepsy awareness. Chelsea is currently living in Georgia with her incredibly supportive husband Nick and adorable dog Moco.
Diane Macedo is an Emmy-Award winning news anchor and correspondent, who struggled with insomnia for years. After developing a tolerance to sleeping pills, Macedo decided to attack the problem as a journalist, pouring through research and interviewing sleep experts from all over the world to get to the bottom of what really keeps us from sleeping—and the various ways to fix it. Now a recovered insomniac, Macedo shares what she learned in her bestselling book “The Sleep Fix”, offering viewers expert wisdom, cutting edge research, and practical ways to incorporate evidence-based sleep solutions into our busy, everyday lives.
Links:
http://sleepfixmethod.com/
www.instagram.com/sleepfixmethod
https://www.tiktok.com/@sleepfixmethod
Edgar Castro Tello is Venezuelan born and raised, but now calls Tampa, Florida his more humid, tropical home, where he lives with his partner, Frankie. He’s an environmental scientist with a passion for programs and policy in the field of refuse and waste reduction. His career started in environmental consulting with migratory birds and informal education in zoos, quickly falling in love with public service and policy change. He was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea in 2016 at the age of 25; a diagnosis that was too late in the making. Edgar hopes his story will shed some light on the prevalence of sleeping disorders in the gay bear community and early signs from teenage years.
Links:
www.instagram.com/zageguy
Dr. Funke Afolabi-Brown is board-certified in pediatric pulmonary medicine and pediatric sleep disorders. As a double board-certified pediatric respiratory sleep medicine physician, Dr. Brown helps her patients breathe better and sleep better. By extension, she helps improve the sleep of their parents.
Dr. Brown is a speaker, an educator, a writer, and the founder of Restful Sleep MD where she helps busy professional women and their children prioritize sleep to not only achieve their optimal health but also thrive and live to their fullest potential. She does this through courses and programs focused on educating and empowering busy professional women to make sleep a priority as a critical pillar of their health.
Dr. Brown is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Thoracic Society (ATS). She has served on several committees locally, regionally, and nationally. Dr. Brown is passionate about mentoring the next generation of physician scholars and is particularly vested in the training and development of minority scholars.
She also works with organizations and small businesses, to improve employee health by incorporating healthy sleep as part of their wellness journey. She does this through seminars, workshops, and round table sessions.
Jacob Zeiher was diagnosed with narcolepsy without cataplexy when he was in elementary school. One of the inaugural recipients of Project Sleep’s Jack & Julie Narcolepsy Scholarship, Jacob attended Ohio State University and currently works as a financial advisor in Carmel, IN. In his free time Jacob enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with friends and family. He is excited to advance Project Sleep’s mission on the Expert Advisory Board.
Jennifer Talbert is a Chiropractor practicing in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Talbert has extensive training in traditional chiropractic techniques, instrument assisted adjusting as well as Cranialsacral Therapy. She specializes in extremity, headaches, and TMJ conditions. Dr. Talbert has a passion to deliver patient-centered care free of judgment and body shaming using Health at Every Size (HAES) principles. She helps people of all shapes and sizes reduce pain, gain mobility, and feel more comfortable in their bodies.
Dr. Talbert received her diagnosis with Obstructive Sleep Apnea in March 2021 and has been a CPAP user since that time.
Links:
https://www.instagram.com/drjennytalbert/
https://portlandchiropracticgroup.com/jennifer-talbert
Dr. Joshua Roland studied psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he developed an interest in sleep and its role in mental health and well-being. Before attending medical school, he worked in clinical research conducting studies on sleep pharmacotherapies. Dr. Roland completed his residency at Drexel University College of Medicine and then did a sleep medicine fellowship at Emory University School of Medicine. He practiced sleep medicine at UCLA, and worked on guidelines for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, as well as serving on the California Sleep Society board of directors. He currently is the medical director of River at Thirty Madison.
Links:
https://try.riversleep.com/
My name is Kajsa Bradley from Hillsboro, Oregon and I’ve been using a CPAP for over five years. I was struggling from crippling depression and anxiety that caused me to withdraw for a semester from the university I was attending. At the time, I was struggling to heal with the help of therapy and medication, it wasn’t helping very much. On a whim, my Mental Health Nurse Practitioner suggested I get a Sleep Study as sleep plays a huge role in mental health. I laughed because in my mind sleep was not the problem. If anything, I was sleeping too much. Eventually with some encouragement from my Nurse Practitioner I gave in to “just check” that my sleep wasn’t the issue.
Spoiler: Sleep WAS the MAIN problem, and I was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea.
Using a CPAP turned my world right side up as my mental health improved greatly and I was able to get my life back and continue school. I became a whole new person with a whole new lease on life. Now I write a blog and make videos for the internet to spread awareness about sleep and mental health.
Dr. Kali Cyrus received a BA in Psychology from Stanford University, followed by an MPH in Health Policy and Management from the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University. She received her MD training at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. Dr. Cyrus completed her Adult Psychiatry residency training and was a Public Psychiatry Fellow at Yale School of Medicine. She currently serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Dr. Cyrus is a practicing psychiatrist and offers freelance consultations to individuals, political and advocacy organizations around issues of race, identity, medical practice, public health, and conflict stemming from differences.
In 2022, Dr. Cyrus co-founded ‘Gemma’, a platform for women’s personal development and mental health.
Links: https://www.kalidcmd.com/
Dr. Kate Sprecher is a scientist and communicator with a passion for harnessing the power of sleep. Kate’s research has focused on the impact of sleep and circadian rhythms on health, and strategies to mitigate the effects of sleep loss on physical and mental performance. She completed a BSc at Flinders University in Australia, an MS at the University of Otago in New Zealand, a PhD at the University of Wisconsin and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado, all focused on neuroscience, psychology and physiology. Her research has been recognized by the National Institutes of Health, Sleep Research Society, Australasian Sleep Association, New Zealand Neurological Society, and US Navy.
As a passionate advocate for sleep health, Kate has spoken at international conferences, the US Congress, and health podcasts, and published in leading academic journals. Kate also lends her expertise to medical clients, developing health communication resources.
Mariángela Velásquez is a journalist, a writer, a mother, and a migrant. She was diagnosed with narcolepsy type 1 at the age of 27 in the United States, after spending twenty years of experiencing sleepiness, loss of muscle control, and hallucinations that she could not explain.
Mariángela was born in Caracas, Venezuela, but has never lived in the same city for more than seven years in a row. Throughout her life, Mariángela has had the opportunity to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, Miami, London, Panama City, and Madrid, where she currently resides. Migration has allowed her to have a broad vision of cultural perceptions and prejudices about sleep disorders and to experience the great differences that exist in diagnosis and treatment in industrialized and developing countries.
Mariángela is very passionate about raising awareness about narcolepsy and sleep disorders within the Spanish-speaking community and became a trained speaker with Rising Voices in the Summer of 2022. Mariangela has a busy life, juggling her job as a content writer for web platforms, her literary interests, her traveling, and her three teenage daughters.
Melanie Jones lives in Muncie, Indiana with her wife, an adorable chihuahua, and a very demanding cat. Her journey to diagnosis with narcolepsy took 19 years from symptom onset, significantly impacting her life. She knows how incredibly different life with narcolepsy can be after diagnosis with appropriate support and medical care, making her passionate about spreading awareness of sleep disorders to others. Melanie is a graduate student studying sociology at Ball State University and a trained speaker with Project Sleep’s Rising Voices program.
Dr. Michael Grandner is a licensed clinical psychologist, Director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona, and Director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic at the Banner-University Medical Center in Tucson, AZ. His work focuses on translational sleep research and Behavioral Sleep Medicine, including studies of sleep as a domain of health behavior and the development and implementation of behavioral interventions for insufficient sleep and sleep disorders. Specific areas of focus include: (1) Downstream cardiovascular, metabolic, and behavioral health outcomes associated with habitual sleep duration and/or insufficient sleep, (2) Upstream social, behavioral, and biological determinants of habitual sleep duration, insufficient sleep, and poor sleep quality, and (3) Development and implementation of behavioral interventions for sleep as a domain of health behavior.
Links:
sleephealthresearch.com
Dr. Michael Murphy completed his medical training at the St Louis University School of Medicine, MO. He then completed his Otolaryngology residency at the University of Washington, WA, and returned to California to begin his career.
Dr. Murphy is a board-certified Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgeon whose practice is located in the Diablo Valley area of California. Since he is also board-certified in Sleep Medicine, Dr. Murphy treats snoring, sleep apnea, and other sleep disorders. This dual board certification allows him to provide broad treatment options (surgical and non-surgical) for patients with sleep disorders.
Links:
https://stanfordhealthcare.org/doctors/m/michael-murphy.html
Dr. Michael Pagano is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine. He specializes in treating sleep-disordered breathing using oral appliance therapy. During his time of active military service, Dr. Pagano pioneered a dental sleep medicine program to treat soldiers with obstructive sleep apnea using oral appliance therapy. He is faculty of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine and U.S. Army Dental Sleep Medicine Residency Program. He lectures on integrating the latest technology and procedures in dental sleep medicine.
Dr. Michael Perlis is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Nursing, and is the Director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the University of Pennsylvania. He has substantial experience with Sleep Medicine and a specialized expertise in Behavioral Sleep Medicine. He is on the editorial boards of SLEEP, The Journal of Sleep Research, The Journal of Sleep Medicine Research, and the Journal of Behavioral Sleep Medicine. He is also the senior author of three books related to Behavioral Sleep Medicine.
Dr. Perlis has a dedicated interest and expertise in the etiology and pathophysiology of insomnia, the assessment and treatment of insomnia, and the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms of action of hypnotics and placebos. His work has been highly impactful (H-Index of 67 with nearly 18,000 citations) and has earned him the SBSM’s Peter Hauri lifetime achievement award, three nominations for the SRS’s Mary Carskadon Outstanding Educator Award, and the SBSM’s “Champion of BSM” award. These activities were preceded or supplemented by the hosting of a BSMG-L/CBT-I list serve (since 1996, co-hosted with Michael Grandner since 2008), the conduct of two annual CBT-I CE trainings (basic and/or advanced courses, since 2005, co-taught with Donn Posner), the hosting of a BSM Mini-Fellowship program at Penn (since 2015), and the provision of an on-line CBT-I provider directory (since 2015, co-edited with Donn Posner).
Finally, with respect to societal service, he has regularly and consistently worked on behalf of our sleep societies including service as a member, or chair, of several committees and task forces for the Sleep Research Society and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, as an assistant to the director of training for the SRS for five years, as one of the five organizing and founding members of the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine (SBSM), and as this society’s first president (2010-2011).
Michelle Zagardo showed symptoms of narcolepsy as young as 6-8 years old. She went through a myriad of misdiagnoses before finally being diagnosed with type 1 narcolepsy with cataplexy at age 28 during her fifth year of her PhD in Economics. Unable to finish her program, she left with her MA. Five years later, following a post-diagnosis existential crisis and career switch, she is currently working on her MSW to become a therapist. Michelle lives with her husband, daughter, dog and cats and is an avid hiker and photographer. She is a trained speaker with Project Sleep’s Rising Voices program. She is passionate about supporting women with narcolepsy on their reproductive journeys and shares about her own experience while also co-facilitating a group for pregnant people and parents with narcolepsy. You can find her writing at www.michellezagardo.com and connect with her on Instagram @thekidinfrontofyou.
Dr. Nora Zaghi provides functional and integrative oral health care and interceptive orthodontics with a focus on whole-body health and well-being. She is a board-certified pediatric dentist, published author, clinical researcher, and educator. She is the director of pediatric dentistry at Breathe Kids Dental, and provides care in a collaborative environment with providers such as sleep surgery, ENT, OMFS, SLP, myofunctional therapy, and others. Dr. Nora is a graduate of The Breathe Institute’s MyoMasterminds program and has advanced expertise in the field of myofunctional therapy. Beyond her academic studies and clinical experiences, she has continued her education and patient care expertise lies in the fields of sleep, breathing, ankyloglossia, early-interceptive orthodontics, oral motor and feeding therapy.
Dr. Robert W. Turner II is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership at The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Science. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He also holds a position as a Research Scientist in the Center on Health & Society at Duke University.
After attending James Madison University on an athletic scholarship, Dr. Turner played football professionally in the now defunct United States Football League, the Canadian Football League, and briefly in the National Football League. In addition, Dr. Turner is a visiting faculty fellow at the Global Sport institute at Arizona State University. He is also principal investigator for the Black Men’s Brain Health annual Conference funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association, and a gift from the NFL Alumni Association
Dr. Sairam Parthasarathy is Murray and Clara Walker Chair and Professor of Medicine, Chief, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Director for the UAHS Center of Sleep & Circadian Science, and Medical Director for the Center for Sleep Disorders at the University of Arizona. His current research is supported by the NIH/NHLBI, PCORI, American Academy of Sleep Medicine Foundation and industry funding.
Dr. Parthasarathy is the current President (2021 – 2023) of the Sleep Research Society Foundation and is currently serving as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, and as an editorial board member of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. His research focuses on sleep and breathing in both ambulatory patients with sleep disorders, critically ill patients, and survivors of critical illness.
Specifically, his current PCORI-funded initiative is addressing peer-driven intervention for promotion of CPAP adherence. His NIH-funded research investigates the role of community engagement to address COVID-related health disparities, long-COVID and sleep, as well as an NIH-R25 training grant for individuals underrepresented in biomedical research in the areas of lung and sleep apnea research. He is one of the principal investigators for the Arizona RECOVER Cohort that aims to study the long-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection. He is committed to training and fostering young scientific investigators in the pursuit of sleep and circadian science.
Dr. Sam A. Kashani is a board-certified Sleep Physician who practices at UCLA Health in Los Angeles. His clinical interests include chronic insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome, parasomnias, pediatric sleep disorders, and the associations between sleep, mental, and metabolic health.
Dr. Kashani completed his residency at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Southern California, where he worked with the medically underserved population of San Bernardino County with plans of becoming a primary care physician. Upon completing his residency, he chose to pursue his interest in Sleep Medicine and completed a fellowship in Sleep Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Dr. Kashani also regularly speaks at conferences, media outlets, and community events on sleep health. He currently serves on the board of directors for the California Sleep Society (CSS) and has also served on multiple committees and task forces in various sleep organizations dedicated to improving public awareness of the importance of sleep health. As assistant clinical professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Dr. Kashani maintains a strong interest in teaching patients as well as students and trainees, and has also published literature in various reputable journals, including the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (JCSM).
Links:
https://www.uclahealth.org/providers/sam-kashani
Dr. Shelby Harris is in private practice in White Plains, NY where she specializes in the use of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for anxiety and depression. She is board certified in Behavioral Sleep Medicine (BSM) by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and treats a wide variety of sleep disorders (insomnia, nightmares, circadian rhythm disorders, narcolepsy, apnea treatment noncompliance) using evidence-based non-pharmacological treatments. Before going into private practice, Dr. Harris was the longstanding director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center at Montefiore Medical Center.
Dr. Harris currently holds a dual academic senior-level appointment as Clinical Associate Professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in both the Neurology and Psychiatry Departments. Dr. Harris has published and presented research on the neuropsychological effects of insomnia in older adults as well as behavioral treatments for insomnia, parasomnias, narcolepsy, and excessive daytime sleepiness. She is frequently invited by hospitals and organizations to give grand rounds lectures and workshops.
Links:
www.drshelbyharris.com/
Thomas Hinton is a seasoned sleep medicine professional of 13+ years, certified health coach and sleep performance coach. He currently serves as CEO/founder of Circadian Health Systems; DBA (Doing Business As) Circadian Health and Performance, where he provides targeted education and experience based sleep coaching programs to individuals to help them optimize and improve their personal performance.
He expanded into athletics upon learning of both the negative and positive impact that sleep/sleep deprivation has on overall player performance. Thomas utilizes his past experiences as a former high school and semi-pro athlete to deliver sleep performance programs to athletes across the sports spectrum.
His client base includes: Olympic, MMA, WNBA, NBA, Semi-Pro as well as grade school through high school athletes.
He is passionate about helping athletes understand how and why sleep directly impacts their athletic, mental and physical performance recovery.
His programs are designed to impact the following:
Thomas gained his experience in the sleep space while working in the sleep lab at the then Illinois Neurological Institute in Peoria, IL. It was there that he had the opportunity to learn and witness the architecture and mechanism of sleep. His time there along with continued education and training have put him in the position to be able to assist athletes and individuals with their sleep. Thomas is certified in sleep science from the Spencer Institute along with being certified in sleep improvement from Harvard Health. He says seeing the difference he makes in people’s lives and helping them take back control of their health is what drives him everyday.
Dr. Yishan Xu is a clinical psychologist and has trained in various evidence-based therapeutic approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Mindfulness Compassionate Approaches. Her credentials include being a Licensed Psychologist in California and being a Board-Certified Behavioral Sleep Medicine Specialist (Diplomate in Behavioral Sleep Medicine, D-BSM), one of the first Chinese-English bilingual sleep specialists among 400 board-certified behavioral sleep medicine specialists across America. Dr. Xu is one of the 6 Board-Certified Behavioral Sleep Medicine Expert in the SF bay area and trained in the Stanford Sleep Medicine Department, and is currently serving as a committee co-chair within the American Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine. She is the founder of Mind & Body Garden Psychology. Dr. Xu completed a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Virginia and did clinical training at Kaiser Permanente, Sharp Healthcare and Stanford Medical School Sleep Clinic.
Links:
https://www.mindbodygarden.com/appointment-dr-yishan-xu
