Sleep Equity Project
Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors are comprised of both patients with sleep disorders and family members of people with sleep disorders.
David Bishop, LCSW
President, CEO, Founder
Sleep Apnea Patient
David is a clinical social workers with over twenty five years of experience in private practice therapy. Additionally, he served in the Illinois Army National Guard for eight years as an officer. He has thirty years of experience in community corrections; twenty two of those years being spent as an officer/program manager for adults with severe mental illnesses, substance use disorders, and chronic health conditions in the court system. His social work skills enabled him to navigate systemic barriers client faced in obtaining services.
His interest in sleep disorders stems from personal experience. David is a sleep apnea patient who, like many, went under-diagnosed for years despite his wife enduring his snoring. Since 2018, David has served on two sleep focused non-profit boards and has held a variety of roles: advocacy chair, secretary, vice president, and chairman of the boar. He has three years of experience as a community foundation reviewer. Furthermore, David has served as a patient representative for an organization responsible for a subcontract from the Department of Defense to review sleep related research proposals being considered for funding.
David's time in advocacy has given him the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. to discuss patients' sleep concerns with Congressional staffers; attend various professional sleep society meeting (American Thoracic Society, American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society Meeting-APSS); serve as a patient representative on a sleep apnea scoring task force; and speak with various sleep physicians about patients' concerns.
He is a stakeholder in a number of studies funded by Patient Centered Research Outcomes Institute (PCORI) as well as one funded by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's Foundation. In July 2024, David was appointed as a patient representative to the National Institute of Health, National Heart, Blood, Lung Institutes Sleep Disorder Research Advisory Board for a 4-year term. This is an amazing opportunity to represent patients' interests and advocate for more focus on underserved/minority populations.
David is passionate about sleep apnea and saw a major gap in the patient advocacy space to address people who are historically underserved. These same people are his friends, neighbors, and family members. Working to advocate for more resources for underserved people is in his heart and is a central principle of the Sleep Equity Project.
Karen Jacobs, MHA
Board Member
Spouse of Sleep Apnea Patient
Karen Jacobs has been a member of the Family Christian Health Center Board of Directors since 2013. She has held several executive board positions and currently serves as President.
Karen is a dedicated Sales Professional with over 11 years of experience selling in the Biopharmaceutical and Medical Device spaces. Before sales, she was a Corporate Trainer at Oak Forest Hospital of Cook County during which she earned multiple professional certifications including Master Trainer, Instructional Designer/Developer, and Performance Improvement Consultant. Karen received her BA in Communications from the University of Michigan and an Executive Master of Health Administration from Cornell University.
Karen is married, a mother of three daughters and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She is deeply aware of the sleepless nights, fear and anxiety experienced by spouses of people living with sleep apnea. Prior to diagnosis, she spent many nights wondering if she wasn’t there to nudge her husband when he stopped breathing during the night would he wake up? She and her husband both sleep a lot better now that he has a diagnosis, a CPAP machine and equally important, support from other people with sleep apnea.
Darthula Young, MBA
Board Member
Sleep Apnea Patient
Darthula Young earned a BA degree from Northeastern Illinois University and an MBA from Dominican University. She attended Robert Goizuetta Business School Executive Leadership Institute Emory University, and the City of Chicago’s Executive Development Program. Most of her professional career was spent working in the private sector in senior management positions with Lockheed Martin IMS, SAP, and MAXIMUS Inc. There, her responsibilities included marketing, government relations, project/operations management and business development in the Midwest and southeast states.
After leaving the private sector, Darthula provided consulting services to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago to develop, enhance and implement the District’s Small Business Enterprise (SBE) recruitment program, moving the contractors from subcontracting capacity to a prime/general contracting capacity. She has served on many boards of local civic organizations, government advisory committees (Juvenile Detention, Park District), and STEM access.
Diagnosed with severe sleep apnea in 2013, she experienced long delays and problems getting her continuious positive airway pressure (CPAP) maghine supplies and was unable to receive a new CPAP after the specified five years allowed by Medicare. Even with the intervention of her doctor, she continued to experience major delays with supplies. The frustration she experienced and the lack of knowledge of the physical and mental effects of sleep apnea inspired her to research what is the proper use of the device, sleep apnea symptoms, and the effects of not using the cpap device. She was not surprised by the symptoms, the physical and mental damage which can result in not adjusting to use CPAP of the device. Darthula began talking with family members and friend who were not familiar with the condition, and those who were unable to use their device on a regular basis.
She began the journey of educating people who talk about symptoms that are consistent with sleep apnea and the importance of getting a sleep study. She also feels it is important to support and encourage those who have a cpap to use it on an ongoing basis. Darthula is proud to report the results from her last visit with her Pulmonary Doctor her cpap usage was ninety-nine percent far exceeding the Medicare required usage.
Eric Prado
Board Member
Sleep Apnea Patient
Eric is the founder and CEO of Fireflyhigh, which provides soft skills training for corporate learning and development, career coaching for individuals, marketing consultation for brands, and yoga instruction.
Eric is a seasoned marketer with experience across many categories. He galvanizes teams and inspires great thinking and actions. He has a strong background in highly strategic brand-building work and execution with strong business results. As a highly strategic thinker, Eric is continuously looking for creative solutions to solve business issues.
He was diagnosed with sleep apnea after seeing his dentist. He underwent testing and worked with his dentist in a collaborative process to deliver an oral appliance to address his airway.
Scientific Advisors
Our Scientific Advisors are trained professionals who provide guidance to for the Sleep Equity Project's work
William "Marty" Martin, PsyD MSc MPH
Hrayr Attarian, MD
Marty has a BS in Biology from the Xavier University of Louisiana, PsyD/MPH in clinical health psychology and later earned a MSc in Behavioural Sleep Medicine. He is currently enrolled in the Masters in Bioethics program at Harvard Medical School.
Marty Martin is a Professor and Faculty Director in the Department of Management & Entrepreneurship at DePaul University. He formerly
served as a Research & Innovation Leadership Fellow. In this role,
he led an innovation fund for the University focusing on the deployment of technology including AI in biomedical sciences and healthcare.
As a respected scholar whose work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Washington Post, Dr. Martin has authored two books, 150 refereed publications including The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. He is completing his latest book titled 52 Sleep Tips. Over the years, he has been a member of research teams funded by The National Institutes for Health (NIH) and various state health departments including the Louisiana Department of Health.
Marty’s prior experience includes senior positions at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Tulane Hospital & Clinics, and The National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health leading and driving change in human resources, occupational safety & health and DEI.
He contributes his time, talent and energy as a member of several boards such as the Center for Health Innovation and as a member of numerous committees such as the DEI Committee of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).
Hrayr earned his BS and MD at the American University of Beirut. He has edited 8 textbooks and published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles.
Hrayr Attarian is a professor of neurology at Northwestern University in Chicago. He is also the medical director of the Northwestern Center of Sleep Health.
His research interests include sleep disorders in multiple sclerosis and epilepsy, as well as global and local sleep health inequities, particularly among refugees. His most recent book (2023) is The Practice of Sleep Medicine Around The World: Challenges, Knowledge Gaps and Unique Needs.
Graduate Interns
Sleep Equity Project has supervised for graduate-level interns since we were established to expose public health students to sleep inequities and the importance of health equity. We are proud of the projects our interns have worked on and the exploration of their own interests in sleep inequities.
See the list of previous interns and their areas of focus here.
Volunteer
We are looking for talented and passionate volunteers to help us grow our organization. See the roles below and learn more.
Advocacy Development
Do you have experience in developing programing around specific advocacy campaigns? We would love to speak with you.
Nonprofit Development
If have experience developing nonprofits organizational culture, we would love to hear from you.
Board Member Interest
We are seeking people interested in applying for board membership. Do you represent one of the health disparity populations (Minority, Gender, Sexual Orientation, etc) and have a sleep disorder? Sleep Equity Project need diverse people to add voice to those that are underserved.
Nonprofit Fundraising
Do you have a knack for nonprofit fundraising and would like to give us some advice, please reach out.
Public Health Policy Implementation
Are you someone who has experience developing AND implementing public health policy, please reach out.
Graduate Internships
Are you in graduate school for public health or social work? Sleep Equity Project is looking for interns who want experience in nonprofit development, fundraising, public policy development, program development and much more! Go to the TAKE ACTION portion of the site.
Grant Writing
If you have skills as a grant writer and would like to volunteer to assist us on a grant effort, please contact us.
Community Health Center
Do you manage a community health center who would be interested in expanding services to your community in the area of sleep education and sleep disorders? We would love to talk to you!
Advocacy Board Interest
We are seeking sleep professionals who have a passion for addressing sleep, health disparities within the context of the social and environmental determinants of health. Please submit your interest in the TAKE ACTION portion of this site.