Dr. Salma Patel is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona. She is a board-certified Sleep Medicine Physician. She received her Doctor of Medicine and Masters in Public Health degrees from the University of Arizona. She completed her Internal Medicine residency and Sleep Medicine Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Patel enjoys seeing patients with all sleep disorders. She strongly ascribes to Dr. William Mayo’s philosophy “The best interest of the patient is the only interest to be considered” and is often caught repeating this quote at patients’ bedsides. She is an active educator and mentor for undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral students, medical students, residents and fellows.
Dr. Patel serves as the Associate Program Director for the Sleep Medicine Fellowship. She also serves as Core Faculty for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. She serves on several college committees at the University. Nationally, Dr. Patel writes board examination questions for the American Board of Internal Medicine for Sleep Medicine Physician Maintenance of Certification and Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment Examinations.
Most of Dr. Patel’s contributions to science are in the area of Sleep Medicine, Cardiology, and Vascular Medicine. She studies cardiorespiratory interactions in obstructive sleep apnea. She enjoys collaborating with and supporting colleagues with their research as well. Her work is supported by grants from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, and the University of Arizona Health Sciences. She gives numerous local and national presentations and has multiple publications in her area of expertise.