Robert L. Owens, MD, ATSF
Professor of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
University of California San Diego
Chair of ATS Assembly on Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology
Three statements about you – two true, one false.
- I like to surf.
- I speak German fluently.
- My favorite place is the Jersey Shore.
Give us your ‘elevator pitch’ biography.
I grew up outside of Philadelphia, PA, then moved to Dallas, Texas, for high school. I returned back east to Princeton where I studied chemical engineering, then went to Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons for medical school. I completed my clinical training in Boston with internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship in the Harvard Combined Program. I’ve always enjoyed physiology and was excited to apply my interest to the pathophysiology of obstructive sleep apnea. My primary research efforts have been human studies of OSA pathogenesis with the eventual goal of personalizing therapy.
In 2014 my family and I moved to San Diego and UCSD, where I continued my research in sleep apnea and continue to care for patients in the sleep clinic. My other clinical and research area is in the intensive care unit, where I serve as medical director and study sleep in the ICU, sedation, ICU Recovery, and ECMO.
My wife Angela grew up in Germany and we met during residency. She is a physician-scientist who works clinically as an anesthesia-trained intensivist and whose basic science focuses on the immune system response to sepsis. We have three children that keep us both pretty busy outside of the lab and hospital.
What would you tell yourself as an Early Career Professional?
Take time to develop, dig deep, and get to know “your thing.” Find a great mentor who is excited to promote you.
If you weren’t in medicine, and were in a different industry altogether, what would you be?
Police detective… think “Law and Order.”
What is your favorite way to spend a day off?
Coffee, morning hike or surfing, and then slow rest of the day reading history or fiction, listening to some music.
What areas of medicine are you most excited to see develop?
There is so much new technology – I am excited that I have to keep learning! It’s been amazing to learn about and use ECMO and other mechanical circulatory support devices. Or new drugs and devices for sleep apnea.
Looking forward, I think the AI “hype” has some definite reality behind it and will change how we practice medicine in so many ways in the next few years. Locally we are using AI to improve sepsis detection and seeing positive results that don’t add to provider workload.
What is one advancement in your field you’d like to see in your career?
Obstructive sleep apnea is near and dear to my heart. I love coming into my clinic to see the positive effect treatment of OSA has had on patients and their well-being. But, I’d love to understand better why different patients have OSA, and what they might expect from treatment. Right now, we treat people (often with CPAP) and just see what happens.
More broadly, I’d like to see a shift from a focus on teaching trainees facts to a focus on knowledge integration and synthesis, and how to communicate meaningfully with patients and their families.
Which statement did you make up?
I cannot speak German – my wife and kids can!
