Sleep Solutions Inc., a diagnostic service provider of at-home patient monitoring for sleep-disordered breathing, announced the appointment of five members to its scientific advisory board who are renowned experts in the fields of otolaryngology, neurology and sleep medicine.
Bruce T. Adornato, M.D., former director of the Stanford Health Services Sleep Clinic in San Francisco, and currently clinical professor of neurology at Stanford Medical Center, has been appointed to head the board and will serve as the company's medical director.
Also joining the board are Richard Goode, M.D., Samuel Mickelson, M.D., and Regina Walker, M.D.
"The decision by such prestigious members of the medical community to join our board is a powerful endorsement of our technology and a testament to the need for this service," said Don Bruce, Sleep Solutions' executive vice president of sales and marketing. "We welcome their expert guidance as we prepare to introduce the first at-home patient monitoring service for detecting potentially life-threatening sleep disorders such as sleep apnea."
"With an estimated 4-to-5 percent of the population affected by sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, there is a critical need to extend diagnostic capabilities beyond the confines of sleep clinics," said Dr. Adornato. "Sleep Solutions' at-home diagnostic system and patient monitoring service will greatly extend physicians' resources for diagnosing sleep disorders, while encouraging more patients to undergo proper diagnosis."
A board-certified sleep specialist, Dr. Adornato earned his M.D. from the University of California, San Diego and trained at UCSF and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
Dr. Goode is a professor of otolaryngology and acting chairman of the Division of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at Stanford University Medical Center. He also is chief of the Division of Otolaryngology for the VA Healthcare System in Palo Alto, Calif. Formerly president of the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery (AAO/HNS), Dr. Goode earned his M.D. from the University of Southern California.
Dr. Mickelson is the immediate past chairman of the Sleep Disorders Committee for the AAO/HNS and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), as well as a board-certified sleep physician. A practicing surgeon with Atlanta Ear, Nose and Throat Associates, he earned his M.D. from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Walker is the current chair of the Sleep Disorders Committee of the AAO/HNS and a clinical associate professor in the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at Loyola University Medical Center. She is a fellow of the ACS and a recipient of the AAO/HNS Honor Award. Dr. Walker received her M.D. from Northwestern University.
Usually accompanied by loud snoring, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common type of sleep-disordered breathing. Of the more than 40 million habitual snorers in the United States, an estimated 20 million are afflicted with OSA at a Healthcare cost of more than $15 billion dollars
With less than two percent of patients diagnosed and treated, OSA is a major medical problem that can be associated with hypertension, depression, stroke, cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular disorders. Characterized by repeated narrowing or collapse of the upper airway during sleep that restricts or prevents breathing, OSA is the most common of two forms of sleep apnea. The other is central sleep apnea, which results in the periodic cessation of both airflow and respiratory breathing effort during sleep.
