Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion

Profile

Dr. Gurubhagavatula is Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine, where she is also Director of the Sleep Medicine Fellowship training program. She is also Attending Physician at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center (CMCVAMC). Her research focuses on identifying and treating sleep disorders in high-risk populations, such as those with existing cardiovascular disease, and those in high-risk occupational groups, such as commercial vehicle operators, law enforcement officers, and health workers experiencing occupational burnout. 

Her past work included developing novel, two-stage strategies to screen for the medical disorder known as obstructive sleep apnea in Veterans with hypertension. She also conducted work on a clinical trial evaluating the effect of weight loss, positive airway pressure therapy, or both in a group of obese patients, to determine the role of sleep apnea in cardiovascular disease. She has participated in an international, multi-center study of the outcomes of treatment in patients with mild obstructive sleep apnea, and in a randomized clinical trial of Veterans evaluating ambulatory diagnostic and treatment strategies for sleep apnea.  She is also working to train the next generation of investigators by engaging in scholarly activity with trainees in the sleep medicine fellowship program at the University of Pennsylvania.