Orfeu M. Buxton BS, PhD

Dr. Buxton is an Associate Neuroscientist at Brigham & Women's Hospital, Lecturer on Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Adjunct Associate Professor, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, and Associate Professor in Biobehavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Buxton’s research primarily focuses on 1) the health consequences of chronic sleep deficiency, especially cardiometabolic outcomes, and 2) the causes of chronic sleep deficiency in the workplace, home, and society informing the physiologic and social mechanisms by which these outcomes arise. Successful aging is a central focus of this work. Ongoing interdisciplinary human studies involve sleep loss, aging, and insomnia, as well as health disparities.
Dr. Buxton serves on the Internal Advisory Board for the Harvard School of Public Health Center for Work, Health, and Well-being. Dr. Buxton co-chairs the Steering Committee of the Work, Family, and Health Network and leads the Biomarker and Actigraphy Data Coordinating Center (BADCC) for the Work, Family, and Health Study, and the Fragile Families study, among others.
After earning a B.S. in Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh and a stint as a small business owner, Dr. Buxton earned a doctoral degree in Neuroscience from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, working with Professors Eve Van Cauter and Fred Turek. He obtained post-doctoral training in sleep and endocrinology with Dr. Van Cauter at the University of Chicago.