Pioneers of Sleep in Toledo and Northwest Ohio
JOSEPH I. SHAFFER, Ph.D.
(1928 – 2015)
Dr. Shaffer attended the University of Chicago followed by receiving his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from Temple University in Philadelphia. After receiving his Ph.D. in psychology, he was appointed director of test administration at Temple University. Dr. Shaffer was recruited in 1966 to join the faculty of the Department of Psychology at The University of Toledo.
In the early 1980s, he became a pioneer in the field of sleep disorders medicine opening and directing the Sleep Disorders Center at St. Vincent Medical Center. Continuing his research in the field, Dr. Shaffer published numerous papers advancing the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders. He was among the first to apply sleep research to treating people whose issues could have a range of medical and psychological causes.
Dr. Shaffer founded Sleep Network, Inc., a national consortium of sleep centers in 1985. Until his death, he remained president of Sleep Network, a professor of medicine at the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, a Diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine and director of The Regional Center for Sleep Medicine, a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary sleep/wake disorders center that served as the first training site of the University of Toledo Sleep Medicine Fellowship Program. In addition, he achieved the United States Chess Federation ranking of Life Master.
FRANK O. HORTON III, M.D.
(1947 – 2016)
Dr. Horton earned his bachelor's degree from Morehead State University in 1969 and graduated from the Medical College of Ohio in 1973. He served his internship at Hurley Hospital in Flint, MI and residences at Denver General Hospital and The Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Horton served both his pre- and post-doctoral pulmonary fellowships at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences. Upon starting his pulmonary practice at The Toledo Hospital in 1979, he added another dimension to his practice: sleep medicine. Dr. Horton was one of the first doctors to practice sleep medicine in the United States and the first to bring sleep disorder treatment to Northwest Ohio in the early 1980s, which lead to sleep medicine accreditation for The Toledo Hospital and eventually ranking as the 49th best department in the U.S. to treat sleep disorders. Dr. Horton was a member of numerous professional societies and medical associations, including service as the President of the American Lung Association of Northwest Ohio and the Director of Transitional Care Unit at The Toledo Hospital.
PIETRO “PETE” BADIA, Ph.D.
(1930 – 2016)
Dr. Badia served in the United States Air Force and was stationed in Germany. Upon his return, he attended Kent State University and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology. He received a doctorate from Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y. Dr. Badia arrived at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) in 1962 as an assistant professor. He became an associate professor in 1966 and was named a professor in 1969. Dr. Badia was named a Distinguished University Professor in 1986. “Emeritus” was added to that title at his retirement in 1998. He continued to teach and do research for several years afterward, at BGSU and at the Sleep Disorders Center of St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo, collaborating with Dr. Joseph Shaffer.
Dr. Badia’s research was widely published, and the results were often fodder for news and feature articles by newspapers and magazines across the country. He focused on the psychophysiology of sleep and effects of predictable and unpredictable environmental events. He received research grants that exceeded $1 million over his career from the likes of the National Institutes of Health and the Army. He studied the effects of aging on sleep and how sleep affects job performance. A grant from an industry group, the Fragrance Research Fund Ltd., led to a study of how odors affect people when they’re asleep. In 2010 he received the “Sleep Educator Award” from the National Sleep Foundation.
Dr. Badia was a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He’d been president of the BGSU chapter of Sigma Xi, the national scientific honor society.
(Excerpts taken from The Blade)