Palestrantes Internacionais

Professor Duffy is a clinical researcher whose work focuses on understanding how the circadian timing system impacts sleep and subsequent waking performance, as well as the factors that contribute to individual differences in sleep timing, duration, need, quality, and response to sleep loss.

Dr. Vsevolod (Seva) Polotsky is Tenured Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Professor of Medicine and Professor of Pharmacology and Physiology at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Science in Washington, DC. Dr. Polotsky relocated to the GWU in December of 2022 to build a new translational research program. Prior to that he was on faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for more than two decades rising through the ranks from Instructor to full Professor. Upon his graduation from a medical school in Saint Petersburg, Russia with MD and PhD degrees, Dr. Polotsky moved to the USA, where he received postdoctoral research training in molecular biology and biochemistry at the NIH and Yale University, completed Internal Medicine Residency at Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut, and Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Fellowships at the Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Polotsky’s entire career has been dedicated to extensive studies of the pathogenesis and consequences of sleep disordered breathing. He has developed several mouse models of sleep disordered breathing and published pioneering work showing that chronic intermittent hypoxia, a hallmark manifestation of sleep apnea, causes atherosclerosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, insulin resistance and glucose tolerance. Dr. Polotsky is an expert on hormonal regulation of breathing. He has published numerous widely cited papers elucidating the role of leptin in control of breathing. Dr. Polotsky’s research efforts were continuously funded by the NIH since 2002. Recently, he became involved in the development of novel treatments of opioid-induced respiratory depression. Polotsky has published > 150 papers in prestigious, peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Polotsky served on multiple NIH study sections. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology and a member of the editorial boards of several journals, including Frontiers, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the Journal of Applied Physiology and the European Respiratory Journal.

Polotsky has been active internationally in professional societies, having served as the Chair of the Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology Assembly, and as a member of advocacy committees influencing public policy in sleep disorders. He has trained multiple physician-scientists who hold faculty positions in the top U.S. medical schools as well as at academic institutions around the world.

Vsevolod “Seva” Polotsky, MD, to Serve as Vice Chair for Research in the GW Depart-ment of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine - CLICK AND READ MORE

The Search for a Solution to Sleep-disordered Breathing - CLICK AND READ MORE

Timo Leppänen, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Biomedical engineering and sleep analytics at the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland and an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. His research interest is in sleep-related disorders, wearable monitoring devices, and the development of novel computational and machine learning-based tools for sleep data analysis.

Dr. Ronaldo Piovezan is an esteemed expert in geriatric and sleep medicine, holding certifications from the World Sleep Society and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, along with research training from Harvard University. He is a peer reviewer for leading journals in the fields of sleep and geriatrics and has authored over 35 publications. His commitment to guiding the future generation of doctors and researchers is demonstrated through his work at the University of Adelaide and Flinders University in Australia. Dr. Piovezan is a dedicated proponent of patient-centered care, recognised for his empathetic approach and cooperative research initiatives.