Richard Castriotta, MD

Professor of Clinical Medicine (Part-Time)

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Overview

Richard J. Castriotta, M.D., FCCP, FAASM is a Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles and Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston McGovern Medical School (UTHealth). He has served as Professor of Internal Medicine, and Director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at UTHealth as well as Chief of Pulmonary Medicine, Chairman of the Institutional Ethics Committee and Medical Director of the Sleep Disorders Center and Pulmonary Diagnostic Services at Memorial Hermann Hospital – Texas Medical Center in Houston. He has served as President of the Southern Sleep Society, Chair of the Connecticut Thoracic Society Section on Sleep Medicine, Chair of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) Sleep NetWork Steering Committee, Chair of the ACCP Palliative and End-of-Life Care NetWork, a member of the ACCP SEEK Editorial Board and Vice Chair of the Southern Medical Association Chest Disease Section. He is now President of the Southern Sleep Foundation Board of Directors. He is a Distinguished Educator and Fellow Emeritus of the American College of Chest Physicians and a Fellow Emeritus of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

He is an internationally-recognized leader in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine as a clinician, teacher and researcher. He has been a pioneer in the field of sleep medicine, establishing a sleep laboratory in 1981 and a formal sleep medicine fellowship program in 1999. He was the senior author on the papers establishing the safety and efficacy in using helium to treat acute severe asthma with consequent reduction in asthma mortality. He was instrumental in establishing the definitive diagnosis of sarcoidosis by imaging studies. He was the first author on the definitive study of sleep disorders after traumatic brain injury and he remains one of the world’s experts in this field.

Awards

  • Marquis Who’s Who: Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, 2018
  • American College of Chest Physicians: Distinguished CHEST Educator, 2017
  • Castle Connolly: Top Doctors – Pulmonary Disease, 2016
     – 2025
  • Houstonia Magazine: Houston’s Top Doctors, 2014
     – 2019
  • Los Angeles Magazine: Los Angeles Top Doctors, 2026

Education and Training

  • Boston College High School, Boston, MA — 6/1963 — Science
  • Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA — A.B. — 06/1967 — pre-medical
  • University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy — M.D. — 03/1974 — Medicine
  • Yale University / St. Raphael Hosp, New Haven, CT — 6/1978 — Internal Medicine
  • University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT — 6/1980 — Pulmonary Disease
  • University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT — 12/1980 — Immunology
  • University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany — 8/1964 — German
  • University of Houston, Clear Lake, TX — 6/2001 — Busines Administration

Research Funding

  • Electrophysiologi Biomarkers of Atrial Fibrillation inPatients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea
    SC CTSI Pilot Funding · Jul 1, 2019 – Jun 30, 2020 · Role: Co-Investigator
  • National Registry of patients with interstitial lung disease
    Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation · Jan 1, 2016 – Jan 31, 2019 · Role: Site director for Houston

Research Keywords

  • Sleep disorders, pulmonary fibrosis and sarcoidosis

Publications

  • Findings and Methodological Shortcomings of Investigations Concerning the Relationship Between Sleep Duration and Blood Pressure: A Comprehensive Narrative Review. J Cardiovasc Dev Dis. 2025 Mar 08; 12(3).. View in PubMed
  • The association between integrating echocardiography use in the management of septic shock patients and outcomes in the intensive care unit: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Ultrasound. 2025 Jun; 28(2):281-294.. View in PubMed
  • Sleep Hypoxemia as a Predictor of Mortality in Patients with Sleep Apnea: A Secondary Analysis of the Sleep Heart Health Study. CHEST Pulm. 2024 Dec; 2(4):100087.. View in PubMed
  • Recommended timing of medications that impact sleep and wakefulness: A review of the American Prescribers’ Digital Reference. Sleep Med Rev. 2023 02; 67:101714.. View in PubMed
  • Novel temperature-controlled sleep system to improve sleep: a proof-of-concept study. J Sleep Res. 2022 12; 31(6):e13662.. View in PubMed
  • Circadian rhythms of risk factors and management in atherosclerotic and hypertensive vascular disease: Modern chronobiological perspectives of an ancient disease. Chronobiol Int. 2023 01; 40(1):33-62.. View in PubMed
  • Duration of positive airway pressure adherence: how much PAP is enough? J Clin Sleep Med. 2022 04 01; 18(4):969-970. Paz Y Mar H, Castriotta RJ . . View in PubMed
  • The Circadian Rhythm of Thermoregulation Modulates both the Sleep/Wake Cycle and 24 h Pattern of Arterial Blood Pressure. Compr Physiol. 2021 10 12; 11(4):2645-2658.. View in PubMed
  • Deep Neural Network Sleep Scoring Using Combined Motion and Heart Rate Variability Data. Sensors (Basel). 2020 Dec 23; 21(1).. View in PubMed
  • Guidelines for the design and conduct of human clinical trials on ingestion-time differences – chronopharmacology and chronotherapy – of hypertension medications. Chronobiol Int. 2021 01; 38(1):1-26.. View in PubMed