Posts by John Weyl Winkelman, MD, PhD
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New Website Allows Provider Consultations for Patients With Restless Leg Syndrome
A new online forum educates healthcare providers about restless leg syndrome augmentation, risks of treatment with ropinirole or pramipexole, and treatment alternatives.
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Primary Insomnia and Major Depressive Disorder May Share Underlying Neurobiology
Kathleen L. Benson, PhD, John W. Winkelman, MD, PhD, and Atilla Gönenç, PhD, detected similar impairments in four white matter tracts on brain diffusion tensor imaging in individuals with major depressive disorder or primary insomnia compared with healthy controls, suggesting shared neurobiology of the two disorders.
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Restless Legs Syndrome Often Treated with Excessively High Doses of Dopamine Agonists
John W. Winkelman, MD, PhD, chief of the Sleep Disorders Clinical Research Program, found that like "putting out a fire with gasoline," it is common for U.S. prescribers to treat worsening symptoms of restless legs syndrome with higher doses of dopamine agonists, which often exacerbate the syndrome.
Biography
Dr. Winkelman received his PhD in Psychobiology from Harvard University, an MD from Harvard Medical School and then completed both a residency in Psychiatry and a fellowship in Sleep Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was Medical Director of the Sleep Program at McLean Hospital and subsequently Medical Director of the sleep laboratory at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
He is currently a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Sleep Disorders Clinical Research Program in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Winkelman's research has primarily focused in two areas: 1) epidemiology, physiology, cardiovascular consequences and treatment of restless legs syndrome, and 2) neurobiology and treatment of insomnia. He has lectured in and directed post-graduate medical education courses in sleep disorders nationally and internationally. Dr. Winkelman serves on the editorial boards of Sleep Medicine and CNS Drugs. He has published more than 150 articles, reviews and book chapters and is also the editor of the textbook Foundations of Psychiatric Sleep Medicine, Cambridge University Press (2011).
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