SASM Summit
content experts
November 7-8, 2026 | Rochester, MN
01: The Preoperative View - Sleep Health Vulnerability in Identification, Risk Prediction, and Response
Track 01 Chairs
Dr. Peter Gay, MD
About Dr. Gay
Dr. Gay received his B.A. from Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT in 1976. He earned an MS in Physiology and MD degrees in 1981 at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI where he grew up. He received all graduate training at Mayo Clinic Rochester and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Subspecialty Pulmonary Disease, Critical Care Medicine, and Sleep Medicine. He has been at Mayo in his current position for 37 years now. He has been dedicated to regulatory advocacy efforts, research and clinical care in support of patients with neuromuscular disorders and chronic respiratory failure requiring noninvasive ventilation. He is also a former President and board member of both NAMDRC and the Society of Anesthesia and Sleep Medicine from which he recently received a lifetime achievement award in 2024. He has been most focused on advocacy for patients with advanced respiratory failure requiring home mechanical ventilation and guided the development of the past and current CMS coverage criteria.
Dr. Dennis Auckley, MD
About Dr. Auckley
DENNIS AUCKLEY, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University (MetroHealth Medical Center) in Cleveland, OH. Dr. Auckley practices Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at MetroHealth Medical Center where he directs the Center for Sleep Medicine. He is also the Associate Director of both the Case Sleep Fellowship Program and MetroHealth Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship Program.
Track 01 Content Experts
Dr. Charlie Atwood, MD
About Dr. Atwood
Charles Atwood, MD, specializes in pulmonology and is certified in sleep medicine by the American Board of Sleep Medicine, in addition to pulmonary disease and critical care medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He practices at UPMC Presbyterian and UPMC St. Margaret. Dr. Atwood is affiliated with University of Pittsburgh Physicians, Department of Medicine. He completed his medical degree and residency at the University of Alabama School of Medicine at Birmingham, followed by a fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Atwood is the founding director of the sleep medicine program and laboratory at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS). He sees patients at the VAPHS and at the Comprehensive Lung Center at UPMC, working with all types of sleep disorders in his clinical work at both sites. In addition to sleep disorders, he is interested in the clinical management of lung nodules. He also leads a lung nodule evaluation program at the VAPHS.
Dr. Eric Olson, MD
About Dr. Olson
Board-certified in sleep medicine and pulmonary disease, Dr. Eric Olson, MD is chair of the division of pulmonary/critical care medicine at the Mayo Clinic and a professor at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota. He received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School and completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Additionally, he completed fellowships in pulmonary disease, critical care medicine, and sleep medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
Dr. Patrick Strollo, MD
About Dr. Strollo
Dr. Patrick Strollo is Professor of Medicine and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the Vice Chair of Medicine for Veterans Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine an Vice President of the Medical Service Line at the VAPHS. He received his undergraduate degree from Washington College and his MD from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He is certified by the by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Diseases, and Sleep Medicine.
He has been an active member of the American Thoracic Society and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for over 25 years. He served as President of the AASM 2010 -2011.
His research has involved team science with an emphasis on translational investigations. His work along with his collaborators has focused on three broad areas of investigation: 1) New strategies / tools for the diagnosis of sleep disordered breathing, 2) Management of sleep disordered breathing with positive pressure therapy and other novel treatments and 3) The impact of sleep disordered breathing on cardiovascular function. Dr. Strollo has over 100 publications that include 60 papers in peer reviewed journals in Sleep and Pulmonary Medicine and 60 book chapters and invited papers
Dr. Lisa Wolfe, MD
About Dr. Wolfe
Lisa Wolfe, MD, is a board-certified pulmonary disease and sleep medicine specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. She specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders, sleep apnea, and pulmonary diseases, drawing on extensive clinical training completed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital following her medical degree from The Ohio State University. Dr. Wolfe combines her dual board certifications in pulmonary disease and sleep medicine to provide comprehensive care for patients with complex respiratory and sleep-related conditions.
Dr. Henry Yaggi, MD, MPH
About Dr. Yaggi
Dr. Yaggi is a Professor of Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine and Director of the Yale Program in Sleep Medicine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine. He is a Principal Investigator at the national VA Clinical Epidemiology Research Center. His research interest is the clinical epidemiology of sleep-disordered breathing, focusing on the diverse health implications of sleep apnea and emphasizing informing clinical care. Within this larger domain, his work has focused on 3 specific topics: sleep apnea as a risk factor for adverse cardiovascular and metabolic health outcomes, prognostic factors for adverse cardiovascular and metabolic health outcomes in patients with sleep-disordered breathing, and the impact of diagnosing and treating sleep apnea (using home-based strategies) on cardiovascular risk.
Track 02: Anesthetics, Sleep, and Circadian Biology - Leveraging Anesthetics to Improve Brain Health and Recovery
Track 02 Chairs
Dr. Philip Kurien, MD
About Dr. Kurien
Dr. Philip Kurien is an Associate Professor of Anesthesia at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). He is subspecialized in Sleep Medicine. He completed his medical school at Stanford University School of Medicine. He then completed his residency training in Anesthesia and Perioperative Care at UCSF. After residency he finished a post-doctoral fellowship in Neurogenetics in the labs of Ying-Hui Fu and Louis Ptacek at UCSF studying the molecular control of sleep timing and sleep duration. Following the lab fellowship he completed a clinical Sleep Medicine fellowship at UCSF. He is currently practicing both Anesthesia and Sleep Medicine at UCSF. He is keenly interested in the overlap between anesthesia and sleep to treat disorders of sleep that confound care in the perioperative period, and more broadly, to explore how anesthetic techniques can facilitate natural sleep.
Dr. Ben Palanca, MD, PhD, MSCI
About Dr. Palanca
Dr. Palanca leads the Sleepy Brain Lab at investigating novel markers and interventions for neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Palanca’s research efforts focus on three areas: interface between anesthetized and sleep states, postoperative delirium, and treatment-resistant depression. Markers and modulators of sleep are at the core of these efforts. The group leverages electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and cognitive assessments in human translational neuroscience investigations. Dr. Palanca is actively involved in Washington University Center on Biological Rhythms and Sleep, serves as Secretary of the American Delirium Society (ADS), and as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Association of University Anesthesiologists (AUA). He is a standing member of the NIH Study Section, Aging Systems and Geriatrics.
Track 02 Content Experts
Dr. John Carter, MD
About Dr. Carter
Dr. Carter is a neuro-sleep physician and Director of the MetroHealth Center for Sleep Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a clinical trialist focusing on neuromodulation for sleep apnea and treatment of central disorders of hypersomnolence. He also serves in advisory roles to industry, private equity, and institutional investors in the healthcare and sleep science spaces.
Dr. Christian Guay, MD, MS
About Dr. Guay
Dr. Christian Guay is a board-certified cardiac anesthesiologist and intensivist, currently serving as tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine at the University of Utah. He completed his clinical training at Washington University School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital and received postdoctoral training in neurosciences at the Montreal Neurological Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Anesthesiology, the British Journal of Anaesthesia, Anesthesia & Analgesia and Clinical Neurophysiology, and has been covered in popular media such as National Geographic and Scientific American. Dr. Guay is the Director of the Sleep, Anesthesia & Neuromodulation Devices Laboratory (SAND Lab).
Dr. Mervyn Maze, MB, CHB
About Dr. Maze
I was born in South Africa and obtained my medical degree with honors from the University of Cape Town in 1070. I emigrated from apartheid-era South Africa after my junior doctor training at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, and subsequently trained in internal medicine at the Royal Free Hospital, London England. I continued my training as a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University where I completed my residency in anesthesia in 1981. After joining the faculty in the Department of Anesthesia at Stanford, I received successive promotions to become a tenured professor and Vice-Chair for Research. In 1999, I was recruited to become the Magill Professor of Anaesthesia at Imperial College, London and subsequently became the Chair of Surgery, Oncology, Reproductive Biology and Anesthesia at Imperial College. In 2009, I was recruited to become the Chair of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care at UCSF which I held for 5 years before transitioning to full-time research at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General, the county-hospital campus for UCSF.
My career in sponsored research began under the tutelage of Dame Sheila Sherlock in 1974 and has been a major focus of my academic activities for more than 50 years. During that time, I have been funded and led laboratories at Stanford, Imperial College, and UCSF. I have published more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and received several national and international awards for my research. According to Google Scholar (accessed 7-29-25), my h-index is 104 and I have over 42,000 citations.
I have been married to Janet Wyner MD for 56 years and have two children (Brad and Jacqui) and 6 grand-children.
Dr. Pilleriin Sikka, PhD
About Dr. Sikka
Dr. Pilleriin Sikka is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, where she works in the lab of Dr. Boris Heifets. Her research explores the nature, dynamics, and psychological and neural mechanisms of experiences occurring across states of consciousness — from wakefulness and natural sleep to anesthesia dreaming and psychedelic states. She is particularly interested in the therapeutic potential of transformative experiences, and her current work focuses on whether and how propofol-induced dream states can be harnessed to improve clinical outcomes. She is Principal Investigator on a Mind Science Foundation grant and Co-Investigator on a Tiny Blue Dot Foundation grant supporting this line of work.
Track 03: Technology, Translation, and Industry Innovation
Track 03 Chairs
Dr. Bhargavi Gali, MD
About Dr. Gali
Dr. Bhargavi Gali is an anesthesiologist and intensivist, associate professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Dr. Gali serves as Rochester Methodist Hospital PACU medical director, and vice-chair of quality for the Critical Care independent multidisciplinary practice. Her areas of interest include perioperative management of patients with sleep disorders, and perioperative quality and safety.
Dr. Arney Abcejo, MD
About Dr. Abcejo
Arney Abcejo, MD is the Medical Director for the APSF Website and a previous recipient of an APSF Investigator Initiated Grant. He is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He serves as the Vice Chair for Innovation and Transformation for the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine as well as the Division Chair of Neuroanesthesia and Radiology. His clinical interests include perioperative patient safety, neuroanesthesia, and clinical innovation and implementation. He has an interest in communication in education and has received multiple teaching awards.
As a physician-scientist, he leads the Sleepy Brain Lab at investigating novel markers and interventions for neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Palanca’s research efforts focus on three areas: postoperative delirium, treatment-resistant depression, and the interface between anesthetized and sleep states. Markers and modulators of sleep are at the core of these efforts. The group leverages electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and cognitive assessments in human translational neuroscience investigations. He has been fortunate to receive prior support from the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research and serves as the site-PI for the Medical Student Anesthesia Research Fellowship. Dr. Palanca has been continuously NIH-funded since 2013. His collaborative efforts have disseminated in over 40 publications, spanning journals including NEJM, eLife, Science, and Neuron. Dr. Palanca is actively involved in WashU Center on Biological Rhythms and Sleep, the American Delirium Society, and the Association of University Anesthesiologists. He serves on the editorial board for the recently launched journal, Delirium, and as an ad hoc reviewer for many journals.
Track 03 Content Experts
Dr. George Blike, MD, MHCDS
About Dr. Blike
Dr. George Blike, MD MHCDS and Professor Emeritus, is a retired clinical anesthesiologist who practiced for over 33 years.
Academically, he is a recognized quality improvement and patient safety expert. He performed research in cognitive systems engineering and human factors in multiple, low error tolerance/high consequence domains (e.g., pediatric procedural sedation, and general care patient deterioration. He served as Co-Principle Investigator of a prestigious AHRQ P30 Patient Safety Learning Lab award investigating in-hospital “Failure to Rescue” deaths.
Administratively, he was the inaugural Chief Patient Safety Officer and Chief Quality and Value Officer for the Dartmouth-Health System over a 15 year span and earned a Masters in Healthcare Delivery Science from The Dartmouth Institute/Tuck Business School, Dartmouth College. He is a past president of the Society for Technology in Anesthesiology.
He continues to perform applied research in rescue systems and he has served as CQO of the Family Heart Foundation helping lead their FIND initiatives across multiple collaborative learning networks.
Dr. Ashish K Khanna, MD, MS
About Dr. Khanna
Dr. Ashish Khanna is professor of anesthesiology and surgery and vice-chair of research with the department of anesthesiology, section on critical care medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC.
His research interests include prediction of post-operative respiratory and cardiac events on the regular nursing floor using wearable monitoring, use of large datasets for perioperative outcomes research, effects of hypotension in critically ill patients and use of novel vasopressors and biomarkers in shock states in the ICU. Dr. Khanna has more than 250 peer reviewed papers (h-index 55), two dozen book chapters, editorials, invited non-peer reviewed articles, and has been invited to talk about this work at prestigious national and international forums. He is currently serving as a board member for the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) and has previously chaired the SCCM Discovery research network and was program co-chair for the 2023 congress. He is a prior recipient of the SCCM Distinguished Service and Distinguished Investigator awards. He also serves as chair for the ASA committee on critical care medicine and is a former board member for the Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (SOCCA) and the American Society for Enhanced Recovery and Perioperative Medicine (ASER-PM).
Dr. Khanna’s work has been awarded funding by FAER, NIH/NCATS KL2, NIH/NHLBI R01 and R13, Wake Forest intramural CTSI and several industry and foundation grants.
Dr. Susan McGrath, PhD
About Dr. McGrath
Susan P. McGrath, Ph.D. is an electrical and biomedical engineer with more than 35 years of experience leading multidisciplinary research, systems implementation, and innovation initiatives across industry, academia, government, and nonprofit organizations.
Dr. McGrath spent 25 years at Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Health, where she served as Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at the Geisel School of Medicine and Associate Professor at the Thayer School of Engineering. She taught electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering and led instructional and coaching infrastructure development for the Dartmouth Value Institute.
Dr. McGrath is recognized for her pioneering work in continuous physiologic monitoring, patient safety, and healthcare systems implementation. For more than two decades, she led a nationally funded research portfolio supported by agencies including AHRQ, APSF, DHS, NIST, DARPA, the U.S. Army Institute for Surgical Research, and the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, as well as multiple industry partners. Her leadership experience includes directing the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Value Institute, leading Performance Improvement initiatives, and directing the Surveillance Analytics Core. She also served as Co-Investigator and Director of Research for an AHRQ-supported Failure to Rescue Patient Safety Learning Laboratory.
Before joining Dartmouth, Dr. McGrath conducted research in intelligent software systems for military applications at the Naval Air Warfare Center and Lockheed Martin.
After retiring from Dartmouth Health in 2025, Dr. McGrath founded SPM Consulting, where she provides expertise to healthcare organizations and the medical device industry.
Frank Overdyk, MSEE, MD
About Dr. Overdyk
Dr. Overdyk is an Adjunct Professor of Anesthesiology with academic expertise in mechanisms of respiratory decompensation, respiratory monitoring, and opioids. His passion is reducing preventable deaths on the ward from undetected opioid and sedative induced respiratory depression. Over the past twenty years, Dr. Overdyk has brought awareness and solutions to this problem through peer reviewed publications, seminars, and legislative initiatives, and by leading patient safety organization campaigns (APSF, NPSF, ECRI, and AAMI) for earlier detection and improved monitoring of ward patients. Dr. Overdyk has served as a Consultant in Respiratory Monitoring and Opioid Pharmacology to numerous device companies.
Shape the Future of Perioperative Sleep Health
Become an Industry Partner for the SASM Summit and collaborate with the leading experts defining the next generation of perioperative sleep medicine. This working summit brings together clinicians, researchers, educators, and industry leaders to identify research priorities, advance innovation, and develop the SASM 2030 White Paper—a strategic roadmap for the future of the field.
As an Industry Partner, you’ll do more than sponsor an event—you’ll have a seat at the table, engaging directly with clinical thought leaders while showcasing your organization’s commitment to advancing patient care through innovation. Partnership benefits include summit participation, speaking opportunities, webinars, recognition on the SASM website, and newsletter advertising.
Join us in shaping the future of perioperative sleep health. Become an Industry Partner today.