Sleep and Health Journal

Dr. Robert Boxer is a physician and writer, devoted to his his work to humor as a treatment.

Dr. Carlos H. Schenk is a renowned sleep clinician, psychiatrist and researcher at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center, associate professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.

Ira Shapira, a dentist, did not set out to become a sleep doctor but was involved in treating patients with TMJ disorders, becoming well-known for addressing the needs of patients with head and neck pain, migraines and fibromyalgia. This would have remained the focus of his practice had it not been for his three-year-old son who was a heavy snorer. Despite repeated trips to the pediatrician and the ENT doctor, things did not improve. When Billy turned five years old he wasn’t ready start kindergarten, barely slept for appropriate lengths of time, had a short concentration span and showed signs of ADD. This is when Dr. Shapira took matters into his own hands and took his son to the sleep center at Rush Medical School for an overnight sleep test. Billy was found to have apnea and quit breathing 60 times an hour. While his son was having the test, Dr. Shapira spent the night talking with the sleep technician who was working on a PhD in psychology and sleep. These discussions centered on what was not known about sleep problems, and many of the answers were in the dental literature that he knew so well. That night changed the lives of both the father and his son.

Deena
Sherman

If there's any doubt what Colin Shapiro does for a living - just observe his tie. There, depending on the day, you will find the sun, the moon, the stars and other sleep themes, perhaps a Van Gogh painting depicting sleep. Shapiro is famous for his ties and in his field, this somewhat eccentric professor, is famous for his broad research on sleep.

Pat Mercer was not a particularly famous person by today's media standards. She was however, a well-known peer to all of us in the field of sleep research and treatment. It is often so unfortunate that it takes these types of dramatic circumstances for a person's impact on the lives of others to be fully felt and realized.