I am a neurologist with board certification in Sleep Medicine. In addition to my primary appointment as an Associate Professor in Neurology, I have secondary appointments in Behavioral Neuroscience, Medicine (Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine), and the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, as well as a joint appointment at the VA Portland Health Care System.

Our research program, Sleep & Health Applied Research Program (SHARP), focuses on how sleep modulates neuropathological and behavioral outcomes in neurological disorders across the lifespan, autism spectrum disorder, including traumatic brain injury (TBI), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and aging/neurodegenerative disease. As a neuroscientist, I examine both rodents and human subjects in our studies. My laboratory is known for its bidirectional, translational research spanning back-and-forth between preclinical and human studies. Our expertise is in conducting sleep studies (including advanced sleep phenotyping, sleep manipulations, and sleep interventions), analysis of sleep EEG/EMG recordings, implementing non-obtrusive long-term wearables (e.g., actigraphy, mattress sensors), performing quantitative EEG methodology including machine learning, and designing and conducting experiments using animal models of chronic stress and disease.

Over the years, our group has published peer-reviewed manuscripts in high-impact journals, including Nature, Science, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Science Translational Medicine, and Science Advances. We have been extremely fortunate to receive support from a diverse range of federal and foundation sources, including VA (BLRD, CSRD, RRD), NIH (NIA, NCCIH, NHLBI, NCATS, NIMH, NIGMS/EXITO), DoD, NSF, Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, American Sleep Medicine Foundation, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Hartford Center for Gerontological Excellence, Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Oregon Roybal Center for Aging and Technology (ORCATECH), Parkinson’s Center of Oregon, Brain & Behavior Foundation (NARSAD), Oregon Medical Research Foundation, Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, Collins Medical Trust, and Portland VA Research Foundation.