Program Address:

Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders
221 Longwood Ave
Boston, MA 02215
Phone: (617) 732-7772
Fax: (617) 732-4015
Program E-mail: JOPP@bwh.harvard.edu

Program Director: Lawrence Epstein, M.D.
Program Contact: TBA
 

Program History

From its beginning in 1996, the Sleep Disorders Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) has had a combined mission of providing the highest quality clinical care, conducting cutting edge sleep and circadian research, and educating clinicians and academicians. The BWH sleep fellowship was accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in 2005 and in 2009 was awarded recognition by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine as a Comprehensive Academic Sleep Program of Distinction, one of the first programs in the country to be awarded this recognition.  The designation acknowledged the high quality of the academic, research, and clinical components of the program as recipients must have demonstrated excellence though compliance with rigorous standards in the areas of clinical service, educational mission and research accomplishments.

The sleep fellowship was accredited again in 2019 as a joint program between BWH and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) after a three year hiatus.  The program brings together the expertise of Brigham Sleep Medicine, comprising of the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders in the Department of Medicine and the Department of Neurology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), the Division of Sleep Medicine in the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and the Pediatric Sleep Disorders Program in the Pediatric Pulmonary Unit of Massachusetts General Hospital for Children.  Time will be divided between the clinics to give fellows exposure to an array of sleep disorders, a variety of clinical populations and diverse clinical expertise.

Program Vision

The fellowship has been created to utilize the existing excellent clinical and research resources of the participating institutions to train highly competent, academically oriented sleep specialists.

Program Duration

The BWH sleep medicine fellowship is a 1 year clinical program. Opportunities are available to fellows interested in additional research training.

Prerequisite Training/Selection Criteria

Applicants must be board-eligible or board-certified in Internal Medicine, Neurology, Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Otolaryngology, Anesthesiology, or Psychiatry through an ACGME accredited program. Those who have additional boards are also eligible (e.g., Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Clinical Neurophysiology). Fellow selection is conducted through the National Residency Matching Program. Candidates should have excelled in clinical training.  Prior academic interest and accomplishments are preferred.

Goals and Objectives for Training

Our overall goal is to create a combined fellowship program that prepares trainees to practice competently and independently as sleep specialists with the ability to diagnose, treat and manage patients with any sleep disorder.  At the completion of the program trainees will meet the following objectives:

  • Objective 1: Demonstrate medical knowledge and sleep-related skills appropriate for unsupervised clinical practice as a sleep specialist.
  • Objective 2: Acquire knowledge and skills to establish and manage a sleep disorders program.
  • Objective 3: Apply quality improvement methods and evidence from scientific studies in order to implement practice improvement changes.
  • Objective 4: Demonstrate effective interpersonal and communication skills and carry out responsibilities in a professional manner.
Program Resources

Fellows have access to state of the art clinical centers, including on-site sleep laboratories, respiratory therapists and sleep endoscopy .  As tertiary referral centers, fellows are exposed to a diverse clinical population.  Fellows have the opportunity to get involved in research projects across the academic spectrum from basic science projects and epidemiology studies to clinical trials.

Teaching Staff

Our program faculty bring expertise from a wide variety of backgrounds and sleep training including internal medicine, neurology, psychiatry, pulmonary and critical care disorders, pediatrics, pediatric pulmonology, otolaryngology and dental sleep medicine.

Faculty at Brigham and Women’s Hospital include: Charles Czeisler, MD, PhD, Stuart F. Quan, MD, Lawrence Epstein, MD, Susan Redline, MD, MPH, Rohit Budhiraja, MD, Andrew Wellman, MD, Milena Pavlova, MD, Jamie Johnsen, MD, Sogol Javaheri, MD, MPH, Olabimpe Omobomi, MD, Suzanne Bertisch, MD, MPH, Salma Batool-Anwar, MD, MPH,  Khalid Ismail, MD, Carolyn D'Ambrosio, MD, Jeanne F. Duffy, MBA, PhD, Elizabeth B. Klerman, MD, PhD, Shadab A. Rahman, PhD, MPH, Frank A.J.L. Scheer, PhD, Bethany Bartley, MD.

Faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital, Adult sleep medicine include: Aleksandar Videnovic, MD, John Winkelman, MD, PhD, James Mojica, MD, Kenneth Sassower, MD, Josna Adusumili, MD.

Faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital, Pediatric sleep medicine include: T Bernard Kinane, MD, Donald Keamy, MD

Facilities

Primary Training Sites

Educational Program

Clinical Training

Fellow time will be divided between the clinics at BWF and MGH to assure the fellows have a broad exposure to all sleep disorders across the age spectrum.  Fellows will also participate in the Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) inpatient consultation service.

Procedural training

The fellows will get procedural training at the adult sleep laboratories at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital (BWF) and MGH, and the pediatric sleep laboratory at MGH. They will learn to conduct and interpret polysomnography, home sleep apnea tests, oximetry, multiple sleep latency tests, PAP titration and monitoring, actigraphy, melatonin assays, sleep-related EEGs and drug induced sleep endoscopy.

Didactic component

The didactic program includes a weekly conference that will feature a core lecture series, case conferences, journal club and circadian case conference.  In addition, fellows will attend the Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine monthly Sleep Grand Rounds and Clinical Sleep Grand Rounds.  Monthly multi-institution conferences are conducted with additional participation by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Yale.

Research component

Fellows are encouraged to develop sleep-related research interests and projects with our faculty.  Fellows will conduct a quality assurance project that will produce a written report by the end of the year.   They may attend research conferences and attend BWH sleep and circadian courses.  Fellows are eligible to apply for the Harvard Training Program in Sleep, Circadian and Respiratory Neurobiology.