BIOS:

Marcy Guido-Posey, RPSGT

Marcy Guido-Posey has been a sleep technologist since January 1996, boarded in December 1999. She is currently the Program Director of the HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital's Sleep Disorder Center. Marcy is active in sleep education, promoting community awareness in sleep during National Sleep Awareness Week, education of patients and staff, teaching Respiratory Therapy students their sleep module, and has also given a "Basics of Sleep" presentation to staff at Walt Disney World. Marcy is a founding Board member for the Pennsylvania Sleep Society and is also serving on the Board of Directors for the North East Sleep Society, as the Pennsylvania representative.

Karl Doghramji, MD

Dr. Doghramji is Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, and Professor of Neurology, at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Medical Director of the Jefferson Sleep Disorders Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, also in Philadelphia. Dr Doghramji is also Chair of the Albert M. Biele, MD Memorial Lectureship in Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Jefferson Medical College. An active member of many professional organizations, Dr. Doghramji has for nearly two decades been the director and lecturer for courses pertaining to sleep disorders at the annual meetings of national organizations including the American Psychiatric Association. He has held numerous committee positions with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and has served as an examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Board of Sleep Medicine. In 1998, he was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, in 1994, he was elected to the American College of Psychiatrists and, and in 2003, was elected Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and of the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society. Dr. Doghramji has been Chief Editor for the Jefferson Journal of Psychiatry and serves as a reviewer for numerous medical journals, including Sleep, Sleep Medicine, the Archives of General Psychiatry, the American Journal of Psychiatry, the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, and the Annals of Internal Medicine. He has authored more than 150 journal publications and book chapters and has edited and written 3 books. He has been the recipient of numerous grants. His published works and research focus on a wide variety of sleep disorders, including excessive daytime somnolence, sleep apnea syndrome, and insomnia, as well as depression and anxiety disorders. Dr. Doghramji received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College and completed his internship in internal medicine at Presbyterian-University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia, his residency in psychiatry at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and his clinical research fellowship in sleep disorders medicine and polysomnography at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. He is also an Academic Associate in the Adult Division of the Institute of the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia.

Nirav P. Patel, MD MPH

Dr. Nirav Patel is currently an Attending physician at Respiratory Specialists and is on staff at The Reading Hospital and Medical Center in Reading, PA. He received his medical degree from Guy’s, King’s and St. Thomas’ University Medical School at King’s College, London, England. He transitioned to the USA several years ago to complete and Internal Medicine residency at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. Subsequently, he completed specialty training in Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care medicine at the Hospital of University Pennsylvania. Following this, Dr Patel accepted a post-doctoral position at Penn's Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology. During this time, he also received a Masters degree in Public Health from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr Patel joined the Faculty at Penn as Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Divisions of Pulmonary, Critical Care Medicine and Sleep Medicine. Recently, he moved to Reading, Pennsylvania. Dr Patel is board-certified in Sleep Medicine, Pulmonary Disease, Critical Care Medicine, and Internal Medicine. He was elected Fellow of the American College of Physicians and is a member of the American Thoracic Society, Society of Critical Care Medicine, and American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He is well-published in sleep medicine, pulmonology, and critical care medicine and has presented his research on sleep and public health in a variety of arenas. He has served as a reviewer for several journals and was the primary organizer of the national "Population Sleep" symposium held in 2008 at Penn. He has been very active in advocating for sleep as an important health issue at the local, regional, and national level and has engaged members of local government, experts in the CDC, and senators and staff members on Capitol Hill to become motivated about the importance of sleep and sleep disorders in society. He is a keen educator to health care providers, medical trainees, and the public.

Eric J. Shakespeare, MD

Having recently completed fellowship training and board certification in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at The University of Miami, I am starting in private practice with a strong and particular interest in sleep medicine. I am a co-director of the sleep laboratory at Montgomery Hospital in Norristown, Pennsylvania and have become a leader there with regard to implementation and updating protocols and technology offered at our lab. My practice is a majority of sleep in the outpatient setting encompassing the full spectrum of sleep disorders. Throughout my residency and fellowship career, I was active in the academic environment with participation in research and education of technologists, students, residents, fellows and now colleagues in subspecialty areas of interest. The most recent opportunity is a presentation exploring adaptive servo ventilation at the second annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Sleep Society. In order to maintain an active role in education and leadership within the local and broader sleep medicine community, I would enjoy serving on the board of the Pennsylvania Sleep Society (PSS). This new organization has tremendous potential within a large state containing strong academic institutions as well as thriving medical communities in a time of rapid development in our field. I hope to grow with PSS while helping the sleep medicine community in Pennsylvania become a strong source of education, communication, and leadership.