May 01, 2011

Happy Birthday CPAP and Happy Anniversary Sleep Apnea ED

Busy as a beaver these days having recently completed a speaking engagement at the Georgia Association of Sleep Professionals over the weekend.

Off to the American Thoracic Society International Conference in Denver as an exhibitor and then to the Carolina Sleep Society. June is the "Sleep" meeting, of course. And there is more in the fall.

The following item caught my eye and I thought to share it here as I have in a number of other places. It appears in the British medical journal The Lancet, which published Dr. Sullivan's original research on the use of continuous positive airway pressure for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea -
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)60589-8/fulltext?rss=yes

May 1st marks the seventh anniversary of my hire as executive director of the American Sleep Apnea Association. I have had the good fortune to have many excellent teachers - patients and physicians alike - and the opportunity to speak with many of the thought leaders in the field of sleep medicine.

I count meeting and becoming acquainted with Dr. Colin Sullivan as one of the distinct privileges of my position. More importantly was to have had the occasion to thank Dr. Sullivan on behalf of the millions of people whose lives he saved by experimenting with positive airway pressure before a gathering of his peers.

Far from resting on  my laurels as I begin my eighth year I am busier than ever. Stayed tuned, I will have more time to write on the long plane rides.