Dr. Steven Shea has been appointed as the Director of CROET, the Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology at OHSU in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Shea joins OHSU from Harvard Medical School, where he is Director of the Sleep Disorders Research Program and an associate professor of medicine. Dr. Shea is President of the American Sleep Medicine Foundation, on the boards of directors for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the American Board of Sleep Medicine, and is editor-in-chief of the journal Nature and Science of Sleep.
Dr. Shea received his Ph.D. from the University of London in 1989, joined the faculty of the Harvard University School of Public Health in Boston in 1992, and transferred to Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School) in 1996.
Shea conducts research on the effects of sleep and circadian rhythms on physiology and pathophysiology. In particular, he has pioneered investigation into the mechanisms underlying the day/night variations in the incidence of a number of episodic disorders, including the morning peaks in heart attacks and the nocturnal worsening of asthma. He also studies the adverse health effects of shift work in humans. His research has been fully supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NASA grants since 1992.
Upon accepting the position, Dr. Shea said, “I am eager to join their [CROET’s] efforts. I have been at Harvard for 21 enjoyable and successful years, but I’m up for a new challenge, and this is a great opportunity at CROET and OHSU. My own research will include studies of sleep and circadian rhythms as these relate to accidents and overall health of shift workers and people suffering from sleep disorders. Beyond that, I will support CROET’s current activities whilst helping to expand the research and outreach to more fully encompass overall health and safety in the workplace, and to engage in collaborations across the whole campus and beyond in order to make this happen.”
“Under Dr. Shea’s leadership, the center will expand its impacts even further in promoting a healthy workforce and improving the safety of workers all across our state,” said Dr. Daniel Dorsa, OHSU vice president for research, who led the search.
