Sleep medicine - knowns and unknowns

Professor Barry F.A. Quinn is a Chair in Restorative Dentistry and Dental Education, Academic Lead and Head for Restorative Dentistry, University of Liverpool, School of Dentistry and King James IV Professor of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Barry is presently Secretary General of the Association Dental Education in Europe (ADEE), President-elect of the British Alliance for Researchers in Dental Education and Scholarship (BARDES), Co-President of the Dental Teachers of Professionalism in the UK and a Past-President of the Education Research Group (ERG) of the International Association of Dental Research (2018-2020).

Professor Quinn is a consultant in Restorative Dentistry and has worked collaboratively for over 20 years at Guy’s and St Thomas’s hospitals, with the Lane Fox respiratory unit providing care for patients with sleep apnoea. Since September 2021, Barry has taken a chair at the University of Liverpool and leads the integrated teaching of restorative dentistry. He is presently setting up a dental sleep medicine service working collaboratively with the Aintree Hospital respiratory/sleep department.

Dr Sriram Iyer is based in Sheffield and leads one of the largest sleep services in the North of England. He completed his specialist training in Cambridge and Liverpool and was a consultant in Northwest England for many years before moving to Vancouver as a visiting consultant at the University of British Columbia hospital. His practice is focused on complex sleep apnoea, parasomnias and narcolepsy. He works with neurology colleagues at the Royal Hallamshire Sleep Disorders Centre.

Dr Iyer is the chief investigator in a number of on-going studies pertaining to sleep apnoea and non-invasive ventilation and has received a grant from Pfizer to investigate atrial fibrillation in obstructive sleep apnoea. He is the training programme director for respiratory medicine in Yorkshire and also runs the Difficult Lung Disease Conference. He is a published writer and medico-legal expert. In his spare time, he pretends to enjoy tackling the hills around Sheffield on his fluorescent road bike and plays golf with an unenviable handicap.