United States

Leila Kheirandish-Gozal,MD,MSc, ATSF is Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Child Health research Institute (CHRI) at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Ranked #2 among Sleep Specialists in 2018 and with European Sleep Medicine board certified, she is one of the most celebrated Pediatric Sleep Medicine experts internationally.

Her research investigates mechanisms affecting cognition cardiovascular and metabolism in sleep apnea in children. She has played a key role in determining non-surgical therapies by developing and pursuing elegant bench-to-bedside studies of adenotonsillar cell cultures and her research have resulted in changes in clinical practice guidelines by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Her pioneer MRI studies in children with OSA is aimed to define structural-functional associations accounting for the cognitive deficits and the role of exosomes as effector of cognitive morbidity through disruption of the blood brain barrier.

She has over 177 peer reviewed publications and is the Associate editor of Frontiers in Neurology Chronobiology ,Sleep Medicine and Journal of Pediatric Biochemistry child science. She serves as Editorial Board member of prestigious journal of American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. She is a renowned lecturer around the world and is the recipient of Order of Extraordinary Merit by the Peruvian Medical Association for her major contributions to sleep health in under served Inca populations living at high altitude.

Prof. Kheirandish -Gozal is Fellow of American Thoracic Society and Chair of Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology Program Committee. She received the Presidential Commendation from the American Thoracic Society for her valuable contributions to this premier professional society in 2017.