July 20, 2009 - For Immediate Release

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NEUROLOGIST NAMED ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF LOYOLA SLEEP CENTER

MAYWOOD - Loyola University Health System welcomes Dr. Hrayr Attarian as associate director of the Loyola Center for Sleep Disorders.

Attarian was recruited from the University of Vermont, where he was director of the Vermont Regional Sleep Center. Under his direction, the center doubled the volume of patients seen in the outpatient clinic.

Attarian is board certified in neurology, sleep medicine and neurophysiology. He treats sleep disorders such as insomnia, narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome and "parasomnia" conditions such as sleepwalking, sleep-related hallucinations and dream-enacting behaviors. He also will see patients in Loyola's epilepsy clinic.

Attarian is conducting research on several sleep-related conditions, including daytime sleepiness among physicians, sleep disorders in multiple sclerosis patients and mild dementia-like symptoms in sleep apnea patients. Attarian also is studying whether clinically depressed patients sleep as much as they think they do.

Attarian is editor of Clinical Handbook of Insomnia and Sleep Disorders in Women: A Guide for Practical Management.

Attarian earned an M.D. degree from American University Beirut School of Medicine. He completed medicine and psychiatry internships and a neurology residency at State University of New York. He also has completed fellowships in sleep medicine, clinical neurophysiology and epileptology.

Attarian is an associate professor in the Departments of Neurology and Medicine, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. He lives in Riverside with his wife, Diana.

Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, Loyola University Health System is a quaternary care system with a 61-acre main medical center campus, the 36-acre Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus and 25 primary and specialty care facilities in Cook, Will and DuPage counties. The medical center campus is conveniently located in Maywood, 13 miles west of the Chicago Loop and 8 miles east of Oak Brook, Ill. The heart of the medical center campus, Loyola University Hospital, is a 561-licensed-bed facility. It houses a Level 1 Trauma Center, a Burn Center and the Ronald McDonald® Children's Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center. Also on campus are the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola Outpatient Center, Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine and Loyola Oral Health Center as well as the LUC Stritch School of Medicine, the LUC Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Loyola Center for Fitness. Loyola's Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus in Melrose Park includes the 264-bed community hospital, the Gottlieb Center for Fitness and the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Care Center.