Katherine Sharkey MD, PhD, FAASM, FACP

Katie Sharkey, MD, PhD, is a sleep medicine physician and the inaugural Director of the Center for Sleep & Circadian Rhythms at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, where she is a professor in the departments of psychiatry & behavioral medicine and internal medicine. She earned her MD-PhD and completed a combined internal medicine and psychiatry residency at Rush University in Chicago, IL. Prior to joining the Wake Forest faculty, Dr. Sharkey served for 18 years at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where she held appointments in medicine and psychiatry and most recently served as Associate Dean for Gender Equity.

Sharkey is a recognized expert on sleep and circadian rhythms, particularly as they relate to mood regulation and women's health. A major focus of her research program is on implementing interventions that address mood and sleep dysregulation in expectant and new parents. Sharkey also studies how perinatal sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances affect lactation and breastfeeding. Dr. Sharkey is an Associate Editor of Behavioral Sleep Medicine and Frontiers in Sleep and serves on the editorial board of Sleep Health. Sharkey is also a member of the WHAM Collaborative, a non-profit dedicated to accelerating and investing in women’s health research.