November 10, 2006

U-M becomes one of nation’s first universities to create a professorship in sleep medicine

Nov. 15 ceremony will recognize first recipient of professorship made possible by $500,000 in gifts given in memory of U-M sleep pioneer who died young

ANN ARBOR, MI – The University of Michigan has become one of the first institutions in the nation to create a professorship devoted entirely to the study of sleep and the treatment of sleep disorders.

Ronald D. Chervin, M.D., M.S.

The new position, which will be inaugurated on November 15, was created with $500,000 in contributions that were made in memory of Michael S. Aldrich, M.D., the founder of the U-M Sleep Disorders Center, who died six years ago of a rare cancer at the age of 51.

Out of that tragedy grew a unique collegiate professorship in the U-M Medical School funded largely by Dr. Aldrich’s parents, peers and former students. Its first recipient will be Ronald D. Chervin, M.D., M.S., the current director of the U-M Sleep Disorders Center, professor in the Department of Neurology and a noted researcher on the diagnosis, impact and treatment of sleep disorders in adults and children.

Chervin also directs the Michael S. Aldrich Sleep Disorders Laboratory, where patients can spend an overnight stay to have their sleep, breathing, and other functions recorded. The laboratory, which was dedicated to Dr. Aldrich before his death, opened in 1985 and will soon move from University Hospital to a larger location within the U-M medical center. A second laboratory, on South State Street, opened in 2004.

With its two laboratories, multiple specialty sleep clinics, research projects, and training programs, the U-M Sleep Disorders Center is among the largest, most productive, and most comprehensive in the nation.

It’s believed that only Harvard University preceded U-M in creating a sleep professorship. Both institutions have been at the forefront of the rapid pace of discovery in this relatively new field of medicine. In just the past two decades, many studies have revealed the importance of sleep and its relationship to overall health and performance, as well as the benefits of effective treatment for sleep disorders.

Chervin and his U-M colleagues, for example, have reported evidence of strong links between children’s nighttime sleeping problems, especially those related to breathing, and their daytime behavior, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Chervin currently leads several studies that are probing this issue further, and evaluating the efficacy of diagnostic sleep tests.

“Dr. Aldrich made many seminal contributions to sleep medicine,” says Chervin.“ He not only advanced our knowledge about narcolepsy and many other sleep disorders, but also helped to establish the new field’s professional identity and the mechanisms used to train and certify sleep specialists. He was widely respected by the colleagues, trainees, friends, and patients who knew him. I am most honored to be the first recipient of the Collegiate Professorship established in Dr. Aldrich’s honor.”

Aldrich recruited Chervin to U-M in 1994, at the completion of advanced training in sleep medicine at Stanford University. A graduate of Harvard University and the Stanford University Medical School, Chervin preceded his Stanford sleep training with a residency in neurology at Cornell University Medical Center and the New York Hospital. He received his master’s in clinical research design from the U-M School of Public Health in 1997.

Leslie Aldrich, M.D., says her husband would be pleased to know that Chervin has been chosen for this honor. “Michael helped put sleep medicine on the map, and laid a strong foundation,” she says.  “He would be delighted, but not surprised, at the fine job Ron has done, not only in keeping the sleep lab running smoothly and efficiently, but in keeping sleep medicine at the University of Michigan one of the top programs in the country.  Ron was not just a colleague to Michael, but a good friend as well.  I know he would agree that Ron richly deserves this professorship.”

Aldrich, a member of the Medical School faculty, is a gastroenterologist and director of the U-M’s East Ann Arbor Medical Procedures Center.

A large part of the professorship’s endowment came from C. Knight Aldrich, M.D., and Julie H. Aldrich, Michael Aldrich’s parents. Now in their 90s, they designated their gift to fund a professorship that would be held by the leader of sleep medicine research, education and clinical care initiatives at the U-M Medical School.

“We very much appreciate the generosity of the Aldrich family and the other donors,” says David Fink, M.D., chair of the Department of Neurology. “The Collegiate Professorship will serve as an enduring legacy in memory of Michael and help to advance the science of sleep disorders, while ensuring that patients with these disorders continue to receive the very best clinical care at U-M.”

The Aldriches were joined in giving by dozens of friends, colleagues, former residents and fellows, who gave a total of more than $100,000. Generous gifts from Respironics, Inc., a corporate leader in production of products used to diagnose and treat sleep disorders, and Sepracor Inc., which develops medications for neurological conditions including sleep disorders, also played a critical role in make the professorship possible. Some of the gifts to fund this professorship count towards the U-M Health System's goal in the $2.5 billion Michigan Difference campaign.

The Collegiate Professorship program at the U-M Medical School is meant to honor former faculty members, living or deceased, and to support and honor current leaders on the faculty.

Chervin, who has authored more than 70 scientific publications, and more than 100 other articles, abstracts, and book chapters, is an associate editor for the journal Sleep. In 2004, he won the Sleep Science Award from the American Academy of Neurology. He is an elected member of the board of directors for the Sleep Research Society and the International Pediatric Sleep Association. He is a past president of the Michigan Sleep Disorders Association.

He is the co-inventor of a technique for analyzing brain-wave changes in patients with breathing problems during sleep. He also serves on the advisory board of Sweet Dreamzzz Detroit, a non-profit organization that seeks to improve sleep knowledge and habits among urban schoolchildren. In addition, Chervin has mentored numerous junior faculty and dozens of postdoctoral sleep medicine fellows who have completed their training at U-M and gone on to become sleep specialists in this country and abroad.

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