Ambika Chidambaram, MBBS
Ambika Chidambaram completed her medical school training at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in India. Then, she completed her general pediatrics training at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) School of Medicine, and her pediatric pulmonology training at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She completed her sleep medicine training in the pediatric track at the University of Pennsylvania. and a Masters in Clinical Pharmacology at Thomas Jefferson University. She is currently an Assistant Professor at UC Davis.
She is currently working on a pharmacoepidemiology project identifying a population in whom nasal corticosteroids would be a potential treatment option in children with obstructive sleep apnea and to evaluate the inflammatory biomarker profile based on data collected for an NIH-funded double-blinded randomized controlled trial. Her other research interests include, studying the effects of vaping e-cigarettes on lung function and sleep, and to evaluate the relationship between obesity and sleep disordered breathing.
Denise Dewald, MD
Denise graduated from Tufts University with a B.S. in Chemistry and Biology, and went on to get a master’s degree in Chemistry from Harvard before getting her MD degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. After completing a combined residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Illinois at Chicago Hospital, she worked for several years as a primary care physician. She completed clinical sleep medicine and postdoctoral sleep medicine research fellowships at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and has stayed on there as junior faculty with a clinical appointment at MetroHealth Medical Center.
Denise’s research is focused on understanding the neuromuscular patterns that lead to obstructive sleep apnea. Utilizing an approach based on evolutionary biology and comparative zoology, she is mapping out how the human pharynx evolved, and how evolutionary changes in muscle and central pattern generators may be related to the stability and function of the pharynx. She is translating these ideas into animal studies using electromyography and neurostimulation, and clinical research using ultrasound and electromyography.
Seyni Gueye-Ndiaye, MD
Seyni earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Rutgers University. Following her undergraduate studies, she received her medical degree and completed her pediatric residency at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She then trained in Pediatric Pulmonology at New York-Presbyterian, Weill Cornell Medical School and in Sleep Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She was awarded a NIH T32 trainee grant from Harvard Medical School this year and is currently doing research at Brigham and Women’s and Boston Children’s Hospital.
Seyni’s research is aimed at understanding the environmental determinants of pediatric sleep health. Her current research projects include investigating the contributions of household and neighborhood level environmental influences on the prevalence, severity, and pathophysiology of pediatric sleep-disordered breathing. She is working with the Environmental Assessment of Sleep in Youth (EASY) study, a prospective study of environmental contributors to pediatric sleep-disordered breathing and Pediatric Adenotonsillectomy Trial for Snoring (PATS), the multicenter clinical trial assessing tonsillectomy for mild pediatric sleep-disordered breathing
Amy Korwin, MD, BS
Amy attended Brown University for undergraduate studies, and she graduated with a degree in neuroscience in 2009. She earned her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2014. She remained at the University of Pennsylvania for Internal Medicine residency training and an additional Chief Resident year. Amy completed Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship at Yale University in 2021 and served as the Chief Fellow during her final year. She continued her clinical training as a Sleep Medicine Fellow during the 2021-2022 academic year at Yale University. She is currently working for Connecticut Pulmonary Specialists.
Amy's research focuses on optimizing circadian alignment in critically ill patients. Under the mentorship of Dr. Melissa Knauert, she has been developing and implementing a time-restricted and intermittent enteral nutrition protocol for mechanically ventilated patients. A randomized controlled trial is ongoing.
Nathan Nowalk, MD
Nathan attended Florida State University, where he earned a BS in Exercise Science in 2011 and MD in 2015. He completed his residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. He is currently a fellow in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Chicago.
Nathan’s current research focuses on improving the health and quality of life for patients suffering from obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS). Working in the fields of health services research and implementation science, Nathan plans to examine the interaction between OHS patients and the healthcare system. Under the mentorship of Dr. Babak Mokhlesi, he is currently investigating the healthcare utilization and outcomes of hospitalized OHS patients.
Weston Powell, MD, PhD
Weston studied Classics at Princeton University before he received an MD and PhD from the University of California at Davis School of Medicine. He then completed residency and chief residency in Pediatrics at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital. He stayed at the University of Washington for Sleep Medicine and Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine fellowship and is currently a acting Assistant Professor at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Weston’s past research has included investigations of diurnal rhythms of transcription and metabolism in a mouse model of Prader-Willi syndrome and characterization of sleep-disordered breathing in pediatric heart transplant recipients. Under the mentorship of Dr. Jason Debley and Dr. Maida Chen, he is pursuing research that will characterize molecular circadian rhythms in human lung and airway tissue as it relates to the pathogenesis of pediatric sleep and pulmonary diseases. His long-term goal as a physician-scientist is to conduct translational research to improve understanding and treatment of pediatric sleep and pulmonary diseases
Jenny Shi, BMedSci, MD
Jenny received both her Bachelor of Medical Science and MD from the University of Alberta. She then completed her Pediatrics residency at the University of Manitoba and recently completed her Pediatric Respirology fellowship at the University of Toronto. She is currently pursuing a Pediatric Sleep and Long Term Ventilation fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children and a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research at the University of Toronto.
Jenny's research interests are in the field of pediatric sleep medicine and long-term ventilation. Her master's thesis project will focus on using health administrative data to understand health care utilization, costs and outcomes of children requiring long-term ventilation and cough assist. Other projects have included the ambulatory carbon dioxide monitoring in these children, the impact of a tracheostomy education program, and the use of auto-titrating CPAP in children with OSA.
Lena Xiao, MD, FRCP
Lena earned her MD from the University of Saskatchewan in 2016. She was the Co-Chief Resident in her Pediatric Residency at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (Ottawa, Canada) as well as the Chief Fellow in her Pediatric Respiratory Medicine Fellowship at The Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Canada). She is currently a Pediatric Sleep Medicine Fellow and Research Fellow at The Hospital for Sick Children. She is also pursuing a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Toronto.
Lena’s current research focuses on alternative therapies for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea in children. She will be investigating the use of positional device therapy in pediatrics.