Robert L. Sack
Encyclopedia
Robert L. Sack is an American physician and researcher specializing in sleep medicine
Sleep medicine
Sleep medicine is a medical specialty or subspecialty devoted to the diagnosis and therapy of sleep disturbances and disorders. From the middle of the 20th century, research has provided increasing knowledge and answered many questions about sleep-wake functioning. The rapidly evolving field has...

. He is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Board of Sleep Disorders Medicine. On the faculty of the Oregon Health & Science University
Oregon Health & Science University
Oregon Health & Science University is a public university in Oregon with a main campus, including two hospitals, in Portland and a smaller campus in Hillsboro...

 since 1977, he is the medical director of its Clinical Sleep Disorders Medicine Program which he developed parallel with his research on circadian rhythm
Circadian rhythm
A circadian rhythm, popularly referred to as body clock, is an endogenously driven , roughly 24-hour cycle in biochemical, physiological, or behavioural processes. Circadian rhythms have been widely observed in plants, animals, fungi and cyanobacteria...

s.

For many years, Sack, together with Alfred J. Lewy
Alfred J. Lewy
Alfred J. Lewy, graduated from University of Chicago, in 1973 after studying Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Ophthalmology. He is a full professor and Vice-Chair of the department of Psychiatry at OHSU, Oregon Health & Science University, and holds an MD and PhD...

, has conducted research on sleep, light therapy and melatonin
Melatonin
Melatonin , also known chemically as N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, is a naturally occurring compound found in animals, plants, and microbes...

. Their work resulted in a U.S. patent in 2002. Dr. Sack is, as of February 2010, listed as author of 71 PubMed
PubMed
PubMed is a free database accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health maintains the database as part of the Entrez information retrieval system...

 articles, of which 17 are reviews. He has authored chapters in books, for example "Therapy of Circadian Sleep Disorders" in Sleep Medicine Essentials. His discovery of the power of the hormone melatonin to entrain people with circadian rhythm sleep disorder
Circadian rhythm sleep disorder
Circadian rhythm sleep disorders are a family of sleep disorders affecting, among other things, the timing of sleep. People with circadian rhythm sleep disorders are unable to sleep and wake at the times required for normal work, school, and social needs. They are generally able to get enough sleep...

s has benefited many people, both blind and sighted, earning him credit in a New England Journal of Medicine editorial. Sack is the author of the two-part American Academy of Sleep Medicine
American Academy of Sleep Medicine
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine is a United States professional society for the medical subspecialty of sleep medicine. It was established in 1975. The AASM is the only professional society that is dedicated exclusively to the medical subspecialty of sleep medicine...

review on circadian rhythm sleep disorders.
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