Sally Ward, MD

Chief, Division of Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine

Associates Chair in Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine of USC

Education

Medical School

University of California, Irvine

Internship

Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center; Pediatrics Internship

Residency

Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center; Pediatric Residency

Fellowship

Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center; Pediatric Pulmonology;Children's Hospital Los Angeles; Pediatric Pulmonology Res

Accomplishments

Certifications

Pediatrics; American Board of Pediatrics;Pediatric Pulmonology; American Board of Pediatrics; ABP Sleep Medicine

Professional Memberships

American Academy of Pediatrics; Society for Pediatric Research; American Thoracic Society; American College of Chest Physicians; American Academy of Sleep Disorders; Sleep Research Society; American Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Association; American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM)

Awards

American Thoracic Society Lifetime Contributions to Pediatric Respiratory Medicine
Morris and Mary Press Humanism Awards, CHLA, 1992

Publications

Vallecular cyst as a cause of obstructive sleep apnea in an infant. De A, Don DM, Magee W 3rd, Ward SL. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine 2013 Aug 15;9(8):825-6. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.2932.
Real-time 3D magnetic resonance imaging of the pharyngeal airway in sleep apnea. Kim YC, Lebel RM, Wu Z,Ward SL, Khoo MC, Nayak KS. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2014 Apr;71(4):1501-10. doi: 10.1002/mrm.24808. Epub 2013 Jun 20.
Development and growth of a large multispecialty certification examination: sleep medicine certification--results of the first three examinations. Quan SF, Buysse DJ, Ward SL, Harding SM, Iber C, Kapur VK, Rowley JA, Sateia MJ, Silber MH, Sorscher AJ, Vaughn BV, Witmans M, Woodson BT, Zee P, Mills LE, Hess BJ. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine 2012 Apr 15;8(2):221-4. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.1790.
Relationship between sleep position and risk of extreme cardiorespiratory events. Lister G, Rybin DV, Colton T, Heeren TC, Hunt CE, Colson ER, Willinger M, Corwin MJ; Collaborative Home Infant Monitoring Evaluation Study Group. The Journal of Pediatrics 2012 Jul;161(1):22-5.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2012.01.035. Epub 2012 Feb 23.
Life-threatening respiratory pasteurellosis associated with palliative pet care. Myers EM, Ward SL, Myers JP. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2012 Mar;54(6):e55-7. doi: 10.1093/cid/cir975. Epub 2012 Jan 11.

PubMed Link

Publications on PubMed

Research

We are studying obese teens to understand why they have different presentations of sleep disordered breathing even though they may have equal degrees of obesity. Our participants come to the sleep lab for an overnight sleep study where we characterize their type of sleep disordered breathing. Working with our collaborators, biomedical engineers, and physiologists, the children return for another overnight sleep study where we challenge their breathing and examine their physiologic responses to undergo different various physiologic challenges to determine why the child may have sleep apnea and another only snoring. We may predispose one child to sleep apnea and another to disrupted sleep. The same children after we characterize their physiology, undergo an dynamic MRI, which creates a movie during sleep of their upper airway. Their anatomy and their upper airway structure, and how that is impacted by obesity is closely studies by our team.

Learn more about the Ward Laboratory.