Photo Gallery: New Sleep Center Makes Its Debut with Ribbon-Cutting, Tours

Celebrants gather in the UArizona College of Medicine - Tucson plaza for a ribbon-cutting and open house for the Center for Sleep, Circadian Rhythm and Neuroscience Research's new digs courtesy of a $5 million construction grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Celebrants gather in the UArizona College of Medicine - Tucson plaza for a ribbon-cutting and open house for the Center for Sleep, Circadian Rhythm and Neuroscience Research's new digs courtesy of a $5 million construction grant from the National Institutes of Health.

With great fanfare, the renamed, relocated and rebuilt Center for Sleep, Circadian Rhythm and Neuroscience Research at the University of Arizona Health Sciences held a celebratory ribbon-cutting and tour of its new facilities in the basement of the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson.

Previously, researchers conducted sleep and circadian research studies in leased space above a Tucson bar and grill. The new facility, built using a $5 million construction grant from the National Institutes of Health Office of the Director, gives investigators access to state-of-the-art technology to conduct innovative sleep and circadian rhythm research.

Commenting before the ribbon-cutting on Monday, May 15, were Michael D. Dake, MD, senior vice president for the Health Sciences, and center director Sairam Parthasarathy, MD, who also is chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the College of Medicine – Tucson.

“Sleep disorders, whether insomnia or obstructive sleep apnea, are among significant comorbidities to a host of chronic medical conditions, including chronic pain and diabetes, as well as various cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, urinary and neurological ailments,” Dr. Parthasarathy said. “Besides enabling groundbreaking research, the center will enable training future generations of sleep and circadian researchers and clinicians. The PACCS division hosts the Sleep Medicine Fellowship, one of four pulmonology-related fellowships under its administration certified by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education."

In addition to Drs. Dake and Parthasarathy, the college’s dean, Michael M.I. Abecassis, MD, MBA, participated in the ribbon-cutting. Several center investigators also took part, including Daniel Combs, MD (Department of Pediatrics); William D. "Scott" Killgore, PhD (Department of Psychiatry); Stuart F. Quan, MD (UArizona Professor Emeritus, prior PACCS division chief and the Gerald E. McGinnis Professor Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School); Michael Grandner, PhD (Psychiatry); and Patricia Haynes, PhD (UArizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health).

Other center research collaborators, members and staff were also in attendance along with individuals extramural to UArizona with a deep interest in sleep and circadian sciences. This included Ralph Banks, executive director, UArizona Engineering, Design & Construction, and Tom Gerbo, the Tucson architect who worked on designing the new center.Image of factsheet for the Center for Sleep, Circadian Rhythm and Neuroscience Research. Click to enlarge.

Among the 12,700-square-foot center’s many amenities are a high-tech control room with multiple monitors for observing study participants, an array of valves for controlling gasses in eight comfort-conscious sleep suites, and the ability to test blood and administer drugs remotely. In his opinion, said Dr. Quan, who helped push UArizona to the forefront of sleep medicine in his three decades as a faculty member, the facility is among the most advanced in the nation if not globally for sleep studies. He came to Tucson as a pulmonary fellow in 1979, left for Harvard in 2007, but remains on faculty here.

See below for photos of the ribbon-cutting and tours. Mouseover the images for captions and click them to see a larger version. For the full photo album from the event, see this link at the department’s Flickr webpage.

Factsheet for the Center for Sleep, Circadian Rhythm and Neuroscience Research at the UArizona Health Sciences
video icon Video: Center for Sleep, Circadian and Neuroscience Research Grand Opening

MINI-PHOTO GALLERY
Center staff (from left) at blue table with flowers: Adam Dean, Natalie Provencio, Chris Wendell and Chris Morton (with his wife Andrea) Michael D. Dake, MD, senior vice president for UArizona Health Sciences, starts the ball rolling with short address on the importance of sleep medicine. On left, allergist Tara Carr, MD, and Janko Nikolich, MD, PhD, chair, Department of Immunobiology, College of Medicine - Tucson, and UArizona Center on Aging co-director Sai Parthasarathy, MD, sleep center director and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine at the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson, makes comments at the podium.
 

Celebratory ribbon-cutters - before the cut (from left): Dr. Michael Abecassis, dean, College of Medicine - Tucson; Dr. Michael Dake, senior vice president, UArizona Health Sciences; Dr. Sai Parthasarathy, center director; Dr. Daniel Combs, Dr. Scott Kilgore; Dr. Stuart Quan; Dr. Michael Grandner; and Dr. Patricia Haynes Celebratory ribbon-cutters - during the cut (from left): Dr. Michael Abecassis, dean, College of Medicine - Tucson; Dr. Michael Dake, senior vice president, UArizona Health Sciences; Dr. Sai Parthasarathy, center director; Dr. Daniel Combs, Dr. Scott Kilgore; Dr. Stuart Quan; Dr. Michael Grandner; and Dr. Patricia Haynes Celebratory ribbon-cutters - after the cut (from left): Dr. Michael Abecassis, dean, College of Medicine - Tucson; Dr. Michael Dake, senior vice president, UArizona Health Sciences; Dr. Sai Parthasarathy, center director; Dr. Daniel Combs, Dr. Scott Kilgore; Dr. Stuart Quan; Dr. Michael Grandner; and Dr. Patricia Haynes From left, sleep center operations manager Chris Morton, Dr. Michael Abecassis, Dr. Sai Parthasarathy and Dr. Michael Dake walk into UArizona College of Medicine - Tucson building to tour new sleep center.

 Dr. Parthasarathy tells (from left) Drs. Esther Sternberg, Michael Abecassis and Michael Dake about importance of exercise for proper sleep. The center has a treadmill and exercise bike for research patients. Dr. Michael Dake (2nd from left) talks about the potential to greatly expand sleep research at UArizona with the new center's many capabilities. Two rooms in a sleep suite with a shared living room for research patients at the Center for Sleep, Circadian Rhythm and Neuroscience Research

Lauren Zajac, MPA (right), associate vice president for research administration for the UArizona Health Sciences, discusses all the technical capabilities went into the control room of the new Center for Sleep, Circadian Rhythm and Neuroscience Research with Dr. Tara Carr. One of the features of the new facility is a high-tech control room that offers multiple monitors for observing study participants, an array of valves for controlling gasses in the sleep rooms, and the ability to test blood and administer drugs remotely. Among those gathered in the center's large breakroom with an open-office area for researchers to use while conducting studies are: Regents Professor Marvin Slepian, MD, JD (blue shirt on right); Maria Altbach, MD (behind Dr. Slepian), co-chair of the Dean's Research Council; Jordan Karp, MD (in back with glasses), chair, Department of Psychiatry; and Scott Kilgore, PhD (3rd from left), a sleep researcher in Psychiatry and center member Sleep center member Michael Grandner, PhD (right), director of the Sleep and Health Research Program in UArizona Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic at the Banner-University Medical Center, chats with a guest.

Dr. Janko Nikolich and Nirav Merchant, director of the UArizona Data Science Institute and interim director of the Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics Center, chat in hallway with desert scenes from dawn to dusk. Tom Gerbo, the architect who helped design the new center, chats with Salma Patel, MD, MPH, a former UArizona sleep fellow and now an assistant professor and sleep center researcher. Heidi Erickson, RN (left), manager of pulmonary research, converses with UArizona engineering executive director Ralph Banks, Chris Morton and his wife, Andrea. 

A room for patient research into sleep studies at the Center for Sleep, Circadian Rhythm and Neuroscience Research Options in one of the sleep rooms for control of various gas levels and other monitoring devices. Dr. Stuart Quan (center) congratulates Dr. Sai Parthasarathy on the opening of the new sleep center while Dr. Patricia Haynes, a center researcher, looks on. Signage at entrance to Center for Sleep, Circadian Rhythm and Neuroscience Research at the UArizona Health Sciences in Tucson

Photos by David Mogollon.

ALSO SEE:
“Sky’s the Limit for Research at New Sleep Facility” | Posted May 15, 2023
“Center for Sleep, Circadian and Neuroscience Research opens new facility” | Posted May 11, 2023
“Center for Sleep and Circadian Sciences Construction Underway” | Posted Aug. 11, 2022
“UArizona Health Sciences Exceeds $200M in Research Funding for First Time” (including Sleep Center construction grant) | Posted Sept. 24, 2020

Release Date: 
05/19/2023 - 3:00pm