Ofure Akhiwu, MD, MPH
Ofure is a second-year Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellow at Yale University with a strong academic foundation in psychology, internal medicine, and public health. She earned a BA in Psychology from Canisius College, followed by both an MD and MPH from Tulane University School of Medicine. She completed my internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, where she developed a focused interest in the intersection of behavioral health, sleep, and addiction medicine.
Her current research investigates sex differences in sleep quality and disturbances among individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD). Specifically, she is exploring how discrepancies between self-reported and objectively measured sleep affect psychiatric comorbidities and influence retention in medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) programs. This work is grounded in a broader commitment to advancing health equity through a sleep health lens and is supported by the mentorship of Dr. Klar Yaggi and Dr. Nancy Redeker.
Jin Hyeuk (Justin) Choi, MD
Jin Hyeuk (Justin) Choi was born in Seoul, South Korea and immigrated to the United States at an early age. He was raised in the suburbs of Chicago, IL and Orange County, CA. He earned his B.S. in Physiological Science from UCLA, followed by his M.D. from Northwestern University. He then completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Southern California, where he also served as chief resident. He is currently a Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellow at Johns Hopkins University.
Justin’s research focuses on improving the diagnosis and treatment of sleep-disordered breathing in hospitalized patients. Under the mentorship of Drs. Jonathan Jun and Luu Pham, he is developing and analyzing a clinical database of inpatient sleep studies to identify which patients benefit most from testing and how to optimize care transitions from the inpatient to outpatient setting. Long term, he aims to better understand how disordered sleep physiology influences clinical outcomes in patients with high-risk comorbidities such as heart failure or obstructive lung disease.
Jeongyeon Hwang, MD
Dr. Jeongyeon Hwang is a Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry fellow at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He earned his medical and undergraduate degrees at Seoul National University in South Korea and completed his neurology residency at Wayne State University in Detroit. After his behavioral neurology fellowship, he will pursue additional fellowship training in sleep medicine to deepen his understanding of how sleep is interrelated to brain aging and neurodegeneration. His long-term goal is to build a career that bridges cognitive neurology and sleep medicine to better identify and treat early signs of cognitive decline.
Dr. Hwang’s research focuses on how sleep disturbances may contribute to neurodegenerative changes in older adults. He is particularly interested in identifying sleep-related physiological signals, such as slow-wave activity and slow oscillation, that could serve as early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. His work aims to develop personalized strategies that use sleep as both a risk indicator and a treatment target to slow or prevent cognitive decline in aging populations.
Christopher Lau, MD
Christopher Lau is a Los Angeles native whose medical journey reflects a commitment to serving diverse patient populations across varied healthcare settings. He completed his medical degree at the University of Southern California, followed by internal medicine residency at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles. He is completing his fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Arizona – Phoenix and will continue his training in sleep medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Christopher gained firsthand experience working within public county hospitals, integrated healthcare systems, the Veterans Affair system, and academic tertiary care medical centers. These experiences shaped his interest in improving continuity of care—especially during the transition from inpatient to outpatient settings. He became particularly focused on patients with chronic hypoventilation syndromes (CHS), who often face fragmented care and are at high risk for hospital readmissions.
Christopher launched a post-hospitalization hypoventilation clinic during his fellowship and is actively developing a quality improvement project aimed at risk-stratifying patients with CHS to guide timely outpatient follow-up. His proposed clinical decision-making tool will use patient-specific factors such as diagnosis, comorbidities, and carbon dioxide retention levels to prioritize care and reduce preventable rehospitalizations. Through the support and mentorship of the ATS ASPIRE Fellowship, he aims to refine and implement his research framework and advance care delivery models that support vulnerable respiratory patients through evidence-based, equitable transition strategies.