Yale-PCCSM Newsletter

Dear Friends,

When I was growing up in Israel, nearly every adult I knew took a nap. My mother, who worked as a salesperson in a department store, worked from 8 to 1 and from 3:30 to 7. I would come back from school at around 2, she would serve me lunch—which was always hot— and then once she made sure I was seated at the table in the kitchen, eating and reading a book, she would sneak away and get her nap. When I was done, around 3, I would make her favorite drink: instant coffee with milk and sugar. She would drink it quickly before heading back to work.

When she would return from work later, we would usually have dinner at around 8, then she would stay awake late, watch TV, do whatever was needed around the house, sewing (her second job was a seamstress), or talking on the phone with friends. She kept this routine long after she retired—and even in her 80s she would be lucid and energetic until late at night. Every summer when my daughters would go to visit her in Haifa, their sleep routines would be completely, and some say irreversibly, disrupted as they stayed up late with her, chatting, sewing, or baking.

Although in my career I worked and collaborated with some amazing sleep researchers, I never thought much of it until I watched our own Klar Yaggi, MD, MPH, as well as Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, and other NBA stars discuss the importance of naps. This made me wonder, Were naps the secret of my mother’s energy? I do not know, but I do know I return nearly every day from work excited and energetic—even if the day itself might have been complex or even frustrating. How come?

Obviously, I do not get to nap, but I know that what gets me excited is people. I get to interact with an amazing community of people every day, see trainees develop, early career faculty define their identity, mid-career faculty hit their stride, senior faculty lead measuredly, admins and staff members take pride in their work and develop their careers, and hospital and university administrators find ways to keep our clinical, educational, and research missions functioning even when challenges arise. While I tend to notice this daily, I feel many of us lose sight of this—and this is why I put so much attention on events—on us being together—and this year’s fellowship graduation (see accompanying collage) is a great example. We have five fellowships, and this year’s graduating class contained 17 fellows (6 PCCM, 4 Sleep, 5 CCM, 1 IP, and 1 PVD), who came with significant others, family members, and children. Together with the other fellows, faculty, and staff members, we had a great event with speeches, jokes, awards, food, drink, photos, and smiles.

For me, just attending the fellowship graduation—seeing everyone and getting to do this annually—is worth not having had a nap, for as long as I can remember. I hope you enjoy reading some of the other stories in this newsletter and have a great, recharging summer.

Naftali

Naftali Kaminski, MD
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Endowed Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary) and Pharmacology
Section Chief, Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine
naftali.kaminski@yale.edu