Who? (About Us)

by David E. McCarty, MD, FAASM (but you can call me Dave)

I attended medical school at Duke University, and completed my internship and residency in Internal Medicine in Boston, at Massachusetts General Hospital. I began my career practicing primary care, but after a handful of  years in practice, I followed my own white rabbit into a whole new world called Sleep Medicine.

I learned the art from the great Dr. Andrew Chesson (world-class physician, and past president of the AASM). I spent two years with Andy at LSU Shreveport as a part-time, unpaid fellow.

When Andy was satisfied with my training, I joined the program as faculty to help him turn his apprenticeship-style training program into a fully-fledged and ACGME-accredited fellowship. I became the program’s second director when Andy retired.

While at LSU, I won some teaching awards, published a few papers, and it’s also where I developed the Five Finger Approach, which has remained the cornerstone of my teaching about patient-centered problem-solving, to this day, and is featured as the pinnacle for orienteering around the Isle.

In 2015, I moved to Boulder to join the new Colorado Sleep Institute as its first medical director. CSI was founded as an innovative clinical model, developed to bring a comprehensive philosophy to the practice of Sleep Medicine, placing clinical care, diagnostics and treatment options (including PAP therapy and oral appliance therapy) all under the same roof.

For me, this environment was better than any textbook ever written.

It was precisely this access I had—access to long-term follow up within this comprehensive structure—that allowed me to develop the patient-centered teaching curriculum that would ultimately become Empowered Sleep Apnea.

In May of 2021, I stepped away from the immersive responsibility of clinical practice to devote my energy to provider & patient education that fosters collaborative co-discovery and problem-solving.

On September 6 2022, the Empowered Sleep Apnea project was officially launched (In a lovely co-incidence, September 6 also happens to be my parents’ wedding anniversary. How strange and wonderful is that?)

I honed my cartooning skills by doodling in the margins of my homework, study notes, letters to friends and family, and by drawing “real” cartoons for Cal State Fullerton’s Daily Titan from 1991-1993.

I continue to teach within the Division of Sleep Medicine at LSU Shreveport, at the Physician Assistant education program at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center, and at regional and national professional conferences.

To view/download my CV, click HERE :)

To view/download my official “BIO/HEAD SHOT”, click HERE :)

Ellen Stothard, PhD earned her doctorate in Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience from University of Colorado Boulder. Working in the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory with her mentor, Dr. Kenneth P Wright, Jr., Dr. Stothard worked on the now-famous “Camping Studies” project. This important work on circadian biology has the unusual yet glorious distinction of garnering mention on Saturday Night Live’s WEEKEND UPDATE! How RAD is that?

After the Camping Studies hullaballoo made her famous, Dr. Stothard’s experience fielding interviews with news organizations, local and worldwide, sparked an ongoing interest in science communication, making her a natural Podcast host!

Dr. Stothard’s many lives have included teaching High School English in France, and administering research grants at University of Colorado, Boulder.

Passionate about bringing research out of the laboratory and into the real world, Dr. Stothard is an engaging and prolific public speaker, speaking regularly in the community on issues pertinent to Sleep Health.

Dr. Stothard is currently the Research and Development Director at Colorado Sleep Institute.

To view Dr. Stothard’s C.V., click HERE!

Recommended Reading:

McCarty DE. Beyond Ockham’s Razor: Redefining Problem-Solving in Clinical Sleep Medicine using a “Five Finger” Approach. J Clin Sleep Med. 2010 Jun 15;6(3):292-296. To provoke your own thoughts with this paper, click HERE!

Stothard ER, McHill AW, Depner CM, Birks BR, Moehlman TM, Ritchie HK, Guzzetti JR, Chinoy ED, LeBourgeois MK, Axelsson J, Wright KP. Circadian Entrainment to the Natural Light-Dark Cycle across Seasons and the Weekend. Curr Biol. 2017 Feb 20;27(4):508-513. To set your eyes on this truly RAD paper, click HERE!