April 24, 2014

Addition bolsters pediatric sleep medicine efforts

Atia Jordan, M.D., a Vanderbilt School of Medicine alumna, has been hired as a pediatrician whose primary focus is on sleep medicine in children.

Atia Jordan, M.D., a Vanderbilt School of Medicine alumna, has been hired as a pediatrician whose primary focus is on sleep medicine in children.

Atia Jordan, M.D.

Jordan, one of few board-certified pediatric sleep specialists in the region, will see patients in the Pulmonary Medicine Clinic on the 10th floor of the Doctors’ Office Tower at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and at the new Children’s Hospital subspecialty clinic in Hendersonville.

“I am excited and honored to have the opportunity to join such a great team and expand the pediatric sleep medicine practice at Vanderbilt,” said Jordan. “Research shows that sleep affects children’s growth and development, behavior and even learning abilities. In addition, sleep can also affect the management of acute and chronic medical illnesses.

By using a multi-disciplinary team approach to address sleep concerns, we have the ability to improve the overall health and well-being of our patients. Increasing dedicated pediatric sleep services to our hospital will be a great resource for our patients and families.”

She will work with Mohammad Fazili, M.D., associate professor of Clinical Pediatrics, and Paul Moore, M.D., director of the Division of Pediatric Allergy, Immunology and Pulmonary Medicine, and doctors in various pediatric specialties to identify the causes of a wide variety of sleep disorders. She will also work closely with Beth Malow, M.D., chief of the Division of Sleep Disorders, and her colleagues in the Vanderbilt Sleep Center.

“By having a dedicated pediatrician with a trained focus on sleep she will help to meet the growing demands for expertise in sleep from our community physicians as well as our multi-disciplinary clinics,” said Moore, director of the Division of Pediatric Allergy, Immunology and Pulmonary Medicine and associate professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacology.

“Her expertise will augment the services provided by the sleep program over the past decade.”

Jordan received a Bachelor of Science in Women’s Studies and Child Development from Vanderbilt University in 2005, and graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 2009. She went on to do her residency in Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, returning to Vanderbilt in July 2012 for a Sleep Medicine Fellowship within the Department of Neurology.

“We are excited about having Dr. Jordan join our multidisciplinary sleep program,” said Malow, professor of Neurology and Pediatrics, director of the Vanderbilt Sleep Division and Burry Professor of Cognitive Child Development.

“Dr. Jordan was a joy to work with during her sleep fellowship year and we are thrilled she has decided to return to Vanderbilt. Her passion for pediatric sleep medicine, her dedication to family-centered care and her collegiality will be major assets to our sleep program,” Mallow said.