Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion

Profile

Dr. Kuna's primary academic goal is to develop an outstanding research program based in his clinical research in the management and pathogenesis of obstructive sleep apnea. Dr. Kuna is currently a leader of one of the projects in a program project grant (AI Pack, PI) that is evaluating the effect of continuous positive airway pressure treatment on cardiovascular disease risk factors in lean and obese patients with obstructive sleep apnea. He is the PI for the Penn clinical site in the NIH funded Sleep AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) study, a randomized controlled trial examining the effect of weight loss on sleep disordered breathing in obese type 2 diabetics. He is PI on a VA Health Services Research and Development funded project evaluating the effectiveness of using video teleconferencing to deliver care to Veterans with PTSD and chronic insomnia.

Dr. Kuna's clinical activities are performed at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center where he serves as medical director of the VISN 4 Eastern Regional Sleep Center. He supervises and teaches medical students, house officers and fellows. Dr. Kuna received the 2003 Mark Wolcott Award for Excellence in Clinical Care Delivery, a national award given yearly by the Veterans Health Administration to a physician who has made outstanding contributions to clinical care. He and his colleagues at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center were winners of the 2012 Veterans Health Administration Innovation Competition for their proposal to conduct a pilot project on the remote ambulatory management of Veterans with obstructive sleep apnea. Dr. Kuna is listed in the "Best Doctors in America: Eastern Region" database.