Michael J. Thorpy

Michael J. Thorpy, MD, is Director, Sleep-Wake Disorders Center at Montefiore and Professor of Neurology at our Albert Einstein College of Medicine. His clinical focus is on the clinical diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of all sleep disorders, including sleep apnea, narcolepsy, insomnia and restless legs syndrome, among others.

In 1968, Dr. Thorpy received his Bachelor of Medicine at the University of Otago in New Zealand. He continued studying at this institution, and in 1973 received his Doctor of Medicine. Dr. Thorpy’s postgraduate training spans over nine years. From 1974 to 1976, Dr. Thorpy trained as a rotating house physician and medical registrar at Dunedin Public Hospital, New Zealand. He continued his training in Bombay, India as a Neurology Clinical Assistant at Sir J.J. Group Hospitals in 1977. That same year, he travelled to London, U.K and spent time training at National Hospital as a Clinical Assistant, Edgware General Hospital as a Locum Respiratory Physician, and Kings College Hospital as an Endocrinology Registrar. Following this, in 1978, Dr. Thorpy completed a two-year neurology residency at the State University of New York, becoming Chief Neurology Resident in his final year. In 1982, Dr. Thorpy completed a fellowship in neuroendocrinology at Montefiore.

Expanding on his clinical specialties, Dr. Thorpy’s research focuses on the medications used in the treatment of sleep disturbance and excessive daytime sleepiness. His work has been published in a large number of peer-reviewed journals, medical articles and books.

In 1993 Dr Thorpy received the Nathaniel Kleitman Award of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and in 2012, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Sleep Foundation. He is President of the New York State Society of Sleep Medicine, and a member of numerous other professional societies including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the European Sleep Research Society and the New York State Medical Society.

Dr. Thorpy is board certified by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in Sleep Disorders Medicine.