CLINICAL TRACK

The one-year, ACGME-accredited University of Michigan Sleep Medicine Fellowship program provides comprehensive training in the diagnosis and management of sleep disorders in patients of all ages.  Fellows participate in interdisciplinary patient care that incorporates aspects of pediatrics, psychiatry, neurology, internal medicine, epidemiology, otolaryngology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, and dentistry.  Fellowship training includes the clinical evaluation and management of adults and children with sleep disorders in outpatient and inpatient settings. Sleep Disorders Clinics meet daily and see referrals mainly from Michigan and adjoining states.

Clinics include:

• Adulte Comprehensive Sleep Clinic
• Pediatric Comprehensive Sleep Clinic
• Alternatives to CPAP Therapy Clinic (multidisciplinary)
• Pediatric Sleep and Behavior Clinic (multidisciplinary)
• Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic (multidisciplinary)
• Veterans Affairs Medical Center Comprehensive Sleep Clinic

In the multidisciplinary clinics, patients are seen by faculty from a variety of disciplines.  Each multidisciplinary clinic culminates in a patient conference, in which the providers discuss their findings and assessments, then collectively develop a management plan for each patient. This multidisciplinary approach affords fellows exceptional learning experiences that are critical to development of a complete overview of the field, and optimal for obtaining a thorough understanding for what other types of specialists consider when they see a patient with sleep problems.

Fellows receive a broad experience with outpatient and inpatient polysomnography.  The clinical program includes two large sleep laboratories, the Michael S. Aldrich Sleep Disorders Laboratory and the South State Street Laboratory.  Research studies are also performed at the Aldrich Laboratory as well as the Sleep and Chronophysiology Laboratory at the Depression Center.  Fellows first read a sleep study on their own, then review the study epoch-by-epoch with a faculty sleep specialist. Fellows gain experience with adult and pediatric nocturnal polysomnography (sleep laboratory studies and home studies), Multiple Sleep Latency tests, and other types of studies including those with end-tidal carbon dioxide monitoring, 16-lead EEG, and esophageal pressure (Pes) manometry.  Personalized review of sleep studies in the one-on-one sleep teaching conferences serves optimally to refine fellows’ interpretive skills and diagnostic acumen. 

Fellows also receive a strong foundation in the technical aspect of sleep medicine.  Each fellow has monthly meetings with a senior technician to review staging, scoring, equipment evaluation, mask fitting, and other technical issues.  Early in the year, each fellow works with technologists in the sleep laboratory to observe and participate in three study hook-ups. Each fellow also has their own sleep study performed early in the year, to gain a better understanding of a patient’s experience.

FACULTY:
Affiliated faculty include specialists in adult and pediatric neurology, pulmonology, pediatric pulmonary medicine, psychology, behavioral sleep medicine, pediatric psychology, behavioral / developmental pediatrics, psychiatry, otolaryngology, oral surgery, dentistry, and basic neuroscience. Each fellow is paired with a faculty advisor, and all sleep medicine faculty are enthusiastic and available to provide guidance and mentorship. 

• Anita Valanju Shelgikar, M.D., Director, Sleep Medicine Fellowship
• J. Todd Arnedt, Ph.D., Associate Director, Sleep Medicine Fellowship
• Ronald D. Chervin, M.D., M.S., Director, Sleep Disorders Center
• Deirdre Conroy, Ph.D.
• Alan S. Eiser, Ph.D.
• Barbara Felt, M.D.
• Dawn Dore-Stites, Ph.D.
• Susan L. Garetz, M.D.
• Fauziya Hassan, M.D.
• Joseph I. Helman, D.M.D.
• Shelley Hershner, M.D.
• Timothy F. Hoban, M.D.
• Neeraj Kaplish, M.D.
• Louise M. O’Brien, Ph.D.
• Emerson Robinson, D.D.S.
• Linda M. Selwa, M.D.
• Afifa Shamim-Uzzaman, M.D.
• Jeffrey Stanley, M.D.
• Samuel Zwetchkenbaum, D.D.S.

CONFERENCES:

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES:
Sleep Medicine fellows are strongly encouraged to participate in scholarly activity, including a poster presentation at the University of Michigan Neuroscience Day or the annual SLEEP meeting.  For those fellows who are interested in research, ample opportunities exist for clinical and preclinical sleep research. Many Sleep Center faculty conduct sleep research, and additional clinical, human, and basic sleep research opportunities are available in the laboratories of Helen Baghdoyan, Ph.D., Ralph Lydic, Ph.D., Gina Poe, Ph.D., Roseanne Armitage, Ph.D., J. Todd Arnedt, Ph.D., and many of the 45 faculty who are members of the campus-wide Center for Sleep Science (see link at bottom of this page). The Sleep Disorders Center is accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. The Center for Sleep Science is recognized by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine as a Comprehensive Academic Sleep Program of Distinction, one of the first three to be designated as such in the U.S.

We Are Proud of Our Program and Welcome Your Application
Sleep Medicine fellows at the University of Michigan participate in clinic, sleep study reading, and numerous conferences.  The Sleep Center boasts a faculty invested in your education, state-of-the-art facilities, excellent technical staff, and a national reputation in sleep medicine.  You should have a learning experience that is both enjoyable and effective.  Please see the Application tab on the left side of this page for information about our application process.

For further information, please contact:
Amanda Burke
Fellowship Coordinator
Univerisity of Michigan
1B300 University Hospital
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5036
734-936-9030
aaltizer@umich.edu