Michael J. Twery PhD

Michael J. Twery, Ph.D., is the director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research (NCSDR) in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI) Division of Lung Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Twery has led the NIH’s sleep and respiratory neurobiology scientific research group since 1996, and has served as director of the NCSDR since January 2006. In these roles, Dr. Twery oversees the support of research and research training related to sleep disordered breathing, the fundamental functions of sleep and circadian rhythms, and sleep disorder epidemiology and clinical trials. The NCSDR also stewards several forums that facilitate the coordination of sleep research across the NIH, other federal agencies and outside organizations, including the Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board and a Trans-NIH Sleep Research Coordinating Committee.

Dr. Twery served as the program officer for the Sleep Academic Award program, the Specialized Centers of Research on sleep neurobiology effort, and initiatives to study the link between sleep disorders and short sleep duration with cardiovascular disease risk factors such as the metabolic syndrome, diabetes and obesity. Prior to joining the NHLBI, Dr. Twery was a member of the research faculty at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, and for six years was a senior staff fellow at the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dr. Twery received his Doctor of Philosophy training in pharmacology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His research activities included neurophysiological and neuropharmacological studies of limbic and basal ganglia neuronal pathways.