Beth Malow, MD, MS is a Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University and holds the Burry Chair in Cognitive Childhood Development. She is also an Associate Director of Vanderbilt University’s Clinical Research Center and Chief of the Vanderbilt Sleep Disorders Division, Dr Malow received her MD degree at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. She completed residency training in Neurology at the Harvard-Longwood Program in Boston, Massachusetts, followed by fellowship training in epilepsy, EEG, and sleep medicine at the National Institutes of Health. She completed a Master Degree in Clinical Research from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and was an Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Michigan before joining the Vanderbilt faculty in 2003.
Dr Malow’s clinical, educational, and research programs focus on the impact of treating sleep disorders on neurological disease. Her own research has emphasized the interface of sleep and epilepsy, and more recently, sleep, autism, and related disorders of neurodevelopment. Through collaborations and mentorship, she is also involved in the study of sleep as relates to autonomic function, pulmonary disease, sickle cell disease, stroke, and cognition. She served as principal investigator on a NIH/NINDS Multi-center Pilot Clinical Trial examining the effects of treating obstructive sleep apnea on seizure frequency, daytime sleepiness, and health-related quality of life in adults with epilepsy, and also as principal investigator on an NIH/NICHD trial of melatonin for insomnia in children with autism. Dr. Malow is the principal investigator for Vanderbilt’s Autism Treatment Network (ATN) site, one of 17 autism centers across North America funded to develop standards of medical care for children with autism, and leads the ATN sleep committee. She is a frequently invited speaker at national and international seminars and conferences focusing on sleep, autism, epilepsy, and neurological disorders, as well as clinical research and grant writing. Married with two school-aged sons, she also enjoys presenting and mentoring junior faculty on the topics of time management and career/life balance.