Delegate: Lamia Afifi
Affiliation: Cairo University
Short Bio: I am a professor of Clinical Neurophysiology at Cairo University. I was the founding director of the sleep laboratory of the Clinical Neurophysiology Unit in Cairo University Hospitals. I began my training in sleep medicine as a fellow at the Sleep Center of Stanford University in 2000. In 2002, I passed the American Board of Sleep Medicine exam and in 2004 I passed the MD degree in clinical neurophysiology. Currently, I am involved in the clinical practice of sleep medicine and in various research projects with special focus on sleep disorders in neurological disorders.
I have several publicaition in sleep medicine, whether book chapters or journal articles. I was invited to participate in WHO sleep disorders classification committee and the World Sleep Society guidelines revision committee as representative of Africa in both occasions. I was a founding member of the Egyptian Scientific Society of Sleep Medicine and Research.
I currently serve as Africa’s officer in the governing council of WSS.
Activity: This is the first year that Cairo University held a World Sleep Day event. The School of Medicine in Cairo University is the largest in Egypt, with approximately 97000 undergraduate and 2200 post graduate students enrolled, from Egypt, Africa and Asia. The Clinical Neurophysiology Unit of the Department of Neurology hosted the first Cairo Sleep Day Workshop in celebration of the World Sleep Day. It was announced to all the undergraduate, postgraduate students and the faculty of Cairo University School of Medicine as well all the working staff of the University Hospitals. The Cairo University hospitals affiliated to The Faculty of Medicine comprise more than 5200 beds representing the largest medical institution in the Middle East and probably one of the largest centers in the world.
During the workshop, several lectures were given to both in person and Zoom attendees about Healthy Sleep, different sleep disorders and their assessment. The lecturing staff were thrilled to answer all the questions of the hungry audience about the relatively unfamiliar topic of Sleep & Health. Recommendations were given to promote sleep health among students and physicians. Furthermore a recommendation was offered to the Hospital administration about shift load management of residents and nurses to reduce possible malpractice incidents.
The feedback was very positive from the faculty in other departments who were eager to initiate collaborative research with the Clinical Neurophysiology Unit, as well as several medical students who were very enthusiastic and applied to enroll in research studies within our Unit.
Looking forward to further workshops, our unit was very pleased with the outcomes of the first Cairo Sleep Day Workshop.
Location: Cairo University School of Medicine
Date of Activity: March 9th , 2023
Submitted by: Lamia Afifi
