Faculty Research

Ronald D. Chervin, MD, MS ( chervin@umich.edu )
Associate Professor of Neurology
Director, Sleep Disorders Center
Director, General Clinical Research Center Sleep Research Program

Dr. Chervin's laboratory clinical research interests include sleep disorders, sleepiness, and other neurobehavioral consequences in both adults and children. We are particularly interested in obstructive sleep apnea and other forms of sleep-disordered breathing, sleep laboratory methods used to identify these conditions, and development of better methods to assess their severity. Work in our laboratory has contributed to knowledge about how sleepiness relates to measures of obstructive sleep apnea in adults, and about associations between this sleep disorder and inattentive, hyperactive, and aggressive daytime behavior in children. Additional interests include the influence of obstructive sleep apnea on seizure activity in patients with epilepsy; the neurochemistry of REM sleep behavior disorder in patients with neurodegenerative disorders; the clinical significance of periodic leg movements during sleep; and the cost-effectiveness of continuous positive airway pressure, surgical approaches, and oral appliances in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.