Dr. Winston Campbell has become the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) first board-certified specialist in the field of sleep medicine, not only in The Bahamas, but the entire Caribbean.

Sleep disorders are known to comprise the hub of high risk factors in The Bahamas, particularly as it involves the prevailing epidemic of chronic non-communicable disorders such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus type II, obesity, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and neuropsychiatric disorders.

According to Dr. Robin Roberts, director of UWI’s School of Clinical Medicine, this vast net of risk factors extends to embrace breast cancer and enhance the frequency of life-threatening road traffic accidents.

“Sleep disorders are implicated in spawning and worsening the effects of many medical conditions, namely refractory hypertension, congestive heart failure, strokes, heart attacks, coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, chronic renal failure as well as mental depression and various fractured, societal relationships,” Dr. Roberts said.

“This amalgam of maladies poses a high, hidden economic burden and with significant numbers of persons yet unrecognised and undiagnosed – estimated at more than 80 per cent in our community – the impact of the overall blend of the public health and economic burden is indeed staggering. There is a great need for this relatively new dimension of medicine to be incorporated in all aspects of the delivery of care in our primary, secondary and tertiary health services.”

Dr. Campbell is also the first board certified ear, nose and throat/head and neck surgeon in The Bahamas.

He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology and a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

He currently practices out of St. Luke’s Medical Centre, Collins Avenue.