Sunil Sharma, MD, MBA

Division Chief, Professor, Division of Pulmonary/Critical Care & Sleep Medicine
Program Director, Sleep Medicine Fellowship

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Medicine

Department:

Medicine

Classification:

Faculty

Appointed Program Medical Director

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Medicine

Department:

Respiratory Therapy

Classification:

Faculty

Sharma, Sunil MD, Stansbury, Robert MD. How do we do it: Sleep Disordered Breathing in Hospitalized Patients- A game changer ? CHEST 2021 
 
Sharma, Sunil MD, ATSF1,2,3; Badami, Varun MD1,3; Rojas, Edward MD1,3; Mittal, Abhinav MD1,3; Stansbury, Robert MD1,2,3; Rana, Bilal MD3; Wilson, Alison MD2; Wen, Sijin PhD4 ICU Mortality in Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 Infection: Highlighting Healthcare Disparities in Rural Appalachia, Critical Care Explorations: October 2021 - Volume 3 - Issue 10 - p e547 doi: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000000547 
  
Thakur N, Lovinsky-Desir S, Appell D, Bime C, Castro L, Celedón JC, Ferreira J, George M, Mageto Y, Mainous Iii AG, Pakhale S, Riekert KA, Roman J, Ruvalcaba E, Sharma S, Shete P, Wisnivesky JP, Holguin F. Enhancing Recruitment and Retention of Minority Populations for Clinical Research in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine: An Official American Thoracic Society Research Statement. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021 Aug 1;204(3):e26-e50. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202105-1210ST. PMID: 34347574. 
  
Sharma S, Stansbury R, Hackett B, Fox H. Sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension: A riddle waiting to be solved. Pharmacol Ther. 2021 Jun 22;227:107935. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2021.107935. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34171327 
 
Sangani R, Ghio A, Culp S, Patel Z, Sharma S. Combined Pulmonary Fibrosis Emphysema: Role of Cigarette Smoking and Pulmonary Hypertension in a Rural Cohort. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2021;16:1873-1885. https://doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S307192 
 
Sharma S, Stansbury R, Marsh C. COVID-19 impact on pulmonary care in rural community - a commentary. Hosp Pract (1995). 2021 Feb 17:1-4. doi: 10.1080/21548331.2021.1886736. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33539217. 
  
J Lundgren et al. A neutralizing monoclonal antibody for hospitalized patients with COVID-19. New England Journal of Medicine. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2033130 (2020). ACTIV-3/TICO LY-CoV555 Study Group. https://www.nejm.org/doi/suppl/10.1056/NEJMoa2033130/suppl_file/nejmoa2033130_appendix.pdf 
  
Sharma S, Billings M, Cohen R. Response to Disparities in Sleep Health and Potential Urban Interventions: The challenge of Unintended Consequences. CHEST 2021. April 4; 159(4) : 1691-1692  
 
Andres Mora Carpio MD, Aaron Goertz MD, Colleen Kelly Ph.D., Leslee Willes MS, Stuart F Quan MD, Gregg S. Pressman MD, Abesh Niroula, Sunil Sharma MD. Unrecognized pulmonary arterial hypertension in hospitalized patients. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging 37, 1237–1243 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10554-020-02108-9 
 
Rahul Sangani, Edward Rojas, Michael Forte, Rafia Zulfikar, Nicole Prince, Antonios Tasoglou, Travis Goldsmith, Gary Casuccio, Jonathan Boyd, I. Mark Olfert, Melina Flanagan & Sunil Sharma (2020) Electronic Cigarettes and Vaping Associated Lung Injury (EVALI): Rural Appalachian Experience, Hospital Practice, DOI: 10.1080/21548331.2020.1843282 
 
Sharma S, Oldenburg O, Fox H. Sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension: connecting the dots. J Clin Sleep Med. 2021;17(2):347–348 
 
Armaghan-e-Rehman Mansoor, MD, Varun M Badami, MD, Sunil Sharma, MD, Arif R Sarwari, MD, 922. Increasing incidence of obstructive sleep apnea in patients with HIV: A nationwide database analysis, Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Volume 7, Issue Supplement_1, October 2020, Page S495, https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofaa439.1109 
  
Billings ME, Cohen RT, Baldwin CM, Johnson DA, Palen BN, Parthasarathy S, Patel SR, Russell M, Tapia IE, Williamson AA, Sharma S. Disparities in Sleep Health and Potential Intervention Models: A Focused Review. Chest. 2020 Sep 29:S0012-3692(20)34840-6. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2020.09.249. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33007324; PMCID: PMC7525655. 
 
Robert Stansbury, Mohamad Abdelfattah, Jonathan Chan, Abhinav Mittal, Fahad Alqahtani & Sunil Sharma (2020) Hospital screening for obstructive sleep apnea in patients admitted to a rural, tertiary care academic hospital with heart failure., Hospital Practice, DOI: 10.1080/21548331.2020.1799601 
 
Wilson K., Kaminsky DA, Michaud G, Sharma S, et al. Restoring Pulmonary and Sleep Services as the COVID-19 Pandemic Lessens: From an Association of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Division Directors and American Thoracic Society-coordinated Task Force. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2020 July 14. 
 
Sharma, S., Cain, J., Sakhuja, A. et al. Guidance for Healthcare Providers Managing COVID-19 in Rural and Underserved Areas. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00820-9 
 
Charulata Jindal , Sandeep Kumar  , Sunil Sharma , Yuk Ming Choi and Jimmy T. Efird The Prevention and Management of COVID-19: Seeking a Practical and Timely Solution. Int J Env Res & Public Health. Accepted June 2020 
 
Mittal A, Forte M, Leonard R, Sangani R, Sharma S. (April 27, 2020) Refractory Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Secondary to COVID-19 Successfully Extubated to Average Volume-assured Pressure Support Non-invasive Ventilator. Cureus 12(4): e7849. doi:10.7759/cureus.7849 
 
Mittal A, Baig A, Zulfikar R, Sharma S. (April 07, 2020) Chronic Vaping Related Tracheomalacia (TM): A Case of Vaping Induced Altered Innate Immunity that Culminated in Severe TM. Cureus 12(4): e7571. doi:10.7759/cureus.7571 
 
Naranjo M, Willes L, Prillaman BA, Quan SF, Sharma S. Undiagnosed OSA May Significantly Affect Outcomes in Adults Admitted for COPD in an Inner-City Hospital. Chest. 2020 Sep;158(3):1198-1207. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2020.03.036. Epub 2020 Apr 2. PMID: 32247716. 
 
Rives-Sanchez M, Quintos A, Prillaman B, Willis L, Sharma S. Sleep Disordered Breathing in Hospitalized African-Americans. Journal of the National Medical Association. 2020 Jun;112(3):262-267. DOI: 10.1016/j.jnma.2020.03.011. 
 
Niroula A, Reves, M, Abigail Quintos A, Decker M , Willes L, Quan S, Sharma S. Opiate Use and Escalation of Care in Hospitalized Adults with Acute heart failure and Sleep Disordered Breathing (OpiatesHF study). Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2019 Jun 11. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.201902-100OC. [Epub ahead of print] 
 
Sharma S, Fox H, Aguilar F, Mukhtar U, Willes L, Bozorgnia B, Bitter T, Oldenburg O. Auto positive airway pressure therapy reduces pulmonary pressures in adults admitted for acute heart failure with pulmonary hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea. The ASAP-HF Pilot Trial. Sleep. 2019 Jul 8;42(7):zsz100. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsz100. PMID: 31004141. 
  
Qunitos A, Naranjo M, Kelly C, Quan SF, Sharma S. Recognition and Treatment of Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Obese African American Hospitalized Patients may improve outcome.  J Natl Med Assoc. 2018 Oct 9. pii: S0027-9684(18)30241-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jnma.2018.09.003. PMID:30314827 
 
Yaddanapudi SS, Pineda MC,  Boorman DW , Bryne RE, Hing KL, Sharma S. High Resolution Pulse Oximetry (HRPO): A Cost Effective Tool in Screening for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) in Acute Stroke and Predicting Outcome. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2018 Aug 7. pii: S1052-3057(18)30354-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2018.06.030 
 
Gupta A, Quan SF, Oldenburg O, Malhotra A, Sharma S. Sleep Disordered Breathing in Hospitalized Patients with Congestive Heart Failure: A concise review and Proposed Algorithm. Heart Fail Rev. 2018 Sep;23(5):701-709. doi: 10.1007/s10741-018-9715-y 
 
Sharma S, Mather PJ, Chowdhury A1 Gupta S, Mukhtar U, Willes L, Whellan DJ, Malhotra A, Quan SF.Sleep Overnight Monitoring For Apnea in patients hospitalized with Heart Failure (SOMA-HF study) J Clin Sleep Med. 2017 Oct 15;13(10):1185-1190. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.6768. 

Site Principal Investigator (PI) | 07/2023 – Present

RECOVER-SLEEP: A Platform Protocol for Evaluation of Interventions for Sleep Disturbances in Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PASC)

• National Institutes of Health (NIH) | ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT06404086

 

Co-Mentor | 10/2023 – Present

West Virginia Obstructive Sleep Apnea Academic Mentoring Partnership Project (WVOSAAMP)

• Funding Source: National Institutes of Health (NIH), K23 Career Development Award

• Role: Co-mentor to Principal Investigator, Dr. Robert Stansbury.

• Provide strategic guidance on research design, career development, and project milestones focused on obstructive sleep apnea.

 

Principal Investigator (PI) | 12/2020 – 11/2021

Early Screening of Sleep Disordered Breathing in Hospitalized Stroke Patients: High Resolution Pulse Oximetry as Prognostic and Early Intervention Tools in Patients with Acute Stroke and Sleep Apnea (HOPES TRIAL)

• Funding Agency: NIH / National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)

• Grant Number: 5U54GM104942-04

• Led a clinical feasibility study evaluating the utility of high-resolution pulse oximetry to identify sleep apnea in patients admitted with acute stroke.

 

ATS Bronchiectasis Award 1010522R - Improving the Gap on Bronchiectasis Diagnosis and Care Delivery: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort and Care Initiative

 

Principal Investigator (PI) | March 2024 – Present

Sanofi – Lunsekimig Multi-Centric Trial (Theseus Trial)

• Study Design: A Phase 2b/3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study to investigate the efficacy and safety of lunsekimig compared with placebo in adult participants with moderate to very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

• Direct local clinical trial execution, patient recruitment strategies, and protocol compliance for a major multi-center respiratory study.

Research Publications

Sharma, Sunil MD, Stansbury, Robert MD. How do we do it: Sleep Disordered Breathing in Hospitalized Patients- A game changer ? CHEST 2021 
 
Sharma, Sunil MD, ATSF1,2,3; Badami, Varun MD1,3; Rojas, Edward MD1,3; Mittal, Abhinav MD1,3; Stansbury, Robert MD1,2,3; Rana, Bilal MD3; Wilson, Alison MD2; Wen, Sijin PhD4 ICU Mortality in Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 Infection: Highlighting Healthcare Disparities in Rural Appalachia, Critical Care Explorations: October 2021 - Volume 3 - Issue 10 - p e547 doi: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000000547 
  
Thakur N, Lovinsky-Desir S, Appell D, Bime C, Castro L, Celedón JC, Ferreira J, George M, Mageto Y, Mainous Iii AG, Pakhale S, Riekert KA, Roman J, Ruvalcaba E, Sharma S, Shete P, Wisnivesky JP, Holguin F. Enhancing Recruitment and Retention of Minority Populations for Clinical Research in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine: An Official American Thoracic Society Research Statement. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021 Aug 1;204(3):e26-e50. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202105-1210ST. PMID: 34347574. 
  
Sharma S, Stansbury R, Hackett B, Fox H. Sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension: A riddle waiting to be solved. Pharmacol Ther. 2021 Jun 22;227:107935. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2021.107935. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34171327 
 
Sangani R, Ghio A, Culp S, Patel Z, Sharma S. Combined Pulmonary Fibrosis Emphysema: Role of Cigarette Smoking and Pulmonary Hypertension in a Rural Cohort. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2021;16:1873-1885. https://doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S307192 
 
Sharma S, Stansbury R, Marsh C. COVID-19 impact on pulmonary care in rural community - a commentary. Hosp Pract (1995). 2021 Feb 17:1-4. doi: 10.1080/21548331.2021.1886736. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33539217. 
  
J Lundgren et al. A neutralizing monoclonal antibody for hospitalized patients with COVID-19. New England Journal of Medicine. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2033130 (2020). ACTIV-3/TICO LY-CoV555 Study Group. https://www.nejm.org/doi/suppl/10.1056/NEJMoa2033130/suppl_file/nejmoa2033130_appendix.pdf 
  
Sharma S, Billings M, Cohen R. Response to Disparities in Sleep Health and Potential Urban Interventions: The challenge of Unintended Consequences. CHEST 2021. April 4; 159(4) : 1691-1692  
 
Andres Mora Carpio MD, Aaron Goertz MD, Colleen Kelly Ph.D., Leslee Willes MS, Stuart F Quan MD, Gregg S. Pressman MD, Abesh Niroula, Sunil Sharma MD. Unrecognized pulmonary arterial hypertension in hospitalized patients. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging 37, 1237–1243 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10554-020-02108-9 
 
Rahul Sangani, Edward Rojas, Michael Forte, Rafia Zulfikar, Nicole Prince, Antonios Tasoglou, Travis Goldsmith, Gary Casuccio, Jonathan Boyd, I. Mark Olfert, Melina Flanagan & Sunil Sharma (2020) Electronic Cigarettes and Vaping Associated Lung Injury (EVALI): Rural Appalachian Experience, Hospital Practice, DOI: 10.1080/21548331.2020.1843282 
 
Sharma S, Oldenburg O, Fox H. Sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension: connecting the dots. J Clin Sleep Med. 2021;17(2):347–348 
 
Armaghan-e-Rehman Mansoor, MD, Varun M Badami, MD, Sunil Sharma, MD, Arif R Sarwari, MD, 922. Increasing incidence of obstructive sleep apnea in patients with HIV: A nationwide database analysis, Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Volume 7, Issue Supplement_1, October 2020, Page S495, https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofaa439.1109 
  
Billings ME, Cohen RT, Baldwin CM, Johnson DA, Palen BN, Parthasarathy S, Patel SR, Russell M, Tapia IE, Williamson AA, Sharma S. Disparities in Sleep Health and Potential Intervention Models: A Focused Review. Chest. 2020 Sep 29:S0012-3692(20)34840-6. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2020.09.249. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33007324; PMCID: PMC7525655. 
 
Robert Stansbury, Mohamad Abdelfattah, Jonathan Chan, Abhinav Mittal, Fahad Alqahtani & Sunil Sharma (2020) Hospital screening for obstructive sleep apnea in patients admitted to a rural, tertiary care academic hospital with heart failure., Hospital Practice, DOI: 10.1080/21548331.2020.1799601 
 
Wilson K., Kaminsky DA, Michaud G, Sharma S, et al. Restoring Pulmonary and Sleep Services as the COVID-19 Pandemic Lessens: From an Association of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Division Directors and American Thoracic Society-coordinated Task Force. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2020 July 14. 
 
Sharma, S., Cain, J., Sakhuja, A. et al. Guidance for Healthcare Providers Managing COVID-19 in Rural and Underserved Areas. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00820-9 
 
Charulata Jindal , Sandeep Kumar  , Sunil Sharma , Yuk Ming Choi and Jimmy T. Efird The Prevention and Management of COVID-19: Seeking a Practical and Timely Solution. Int J Env Res & Public Health. Accepted June 2020 
 
Mittal A, Forte M, Leonard R, Sangani R, Sharma S. (April 27, 2020) Refractory Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Secondary to COVID-19 Successfully Extubated to Average Volume-assured Pressure Support Non-invasive Ventilator. Cureus 12(4): e7849. doi:10.7759/cureus.7849 
 
Mittal A, Baig A, Zulfikar R, Sharma S. (April 07, 2020) Chronic Vaping Related Tracheomalacia (TM): A Case of Vaping Induced Altered Innate Immunity that Culminated in Severe TM. Cureus 12(4): e7571. doi:10.7759/cureus.7571 
 
Naranjo M, Willes L, Prillaman BA, Quan SF, Sharma S. Undiagnosed OSA May Significantly Affect Outcomes in Adults Admitted for COPD in an Inner-City Hospital. Chest. 2020 Sep;158(3):1198-1207. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2020.03.036. Epub 2020 Apr 2. PMID: 32247716. 
 
Rives-Sanchez M, Quintos A, Prillaman B, Willis L, Sharma S. Sleep Disordered Breathing in Hospitalized African-Americans. Journal of the National Medical Association. 2020 Jun;112(3):262-267. DOI: 10.1016/j.jnma.2020.03.011. 
 
Niroula A, Reves, M, Abigail Quintos A, Decker M , Willes L, Quan S, Sharma S. Opiate Use and Escalation of Care in Hospitalized Adults with Acute heart failure and Sleep Disordered Breathing (OpiatesHF study). Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2019 Jun 11. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.201902-100OC. [Epub ahead of print] 
 
Sharma S, Fox H, Aguilar F, Mukhtar U, Willes L, Bozorgnia B, Bitter T, Oldenburg O. Auto positive airway pressure therapy reduces pulmonary pressures in adults admitted for acute heart failure with pulmonary hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea. The ASAP-HF Pilot Trial. Sleep. 2019 Jul 8;42(7):zsz100. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsz100. PMID: 31004141. 
  
Qunitos A, Naranjo M, Kelly C, Quan SF, Sharma S. Recognition and Treatment of Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Obese African American Hospitalized Patients may improve outcome.  J Natl Med Assoc. 2018 Oct 9. pii: S0027-9684(18)30241-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jnma.2018.09.003. PMID:30314827 
 
Yaddanapudi SS, Pineda MC,  Boorman DW , Bryne RE, Hing KL, Sharma S. High Resolution Pulse Oximetry (HRPO): A Cost Effective Tool in Screening for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) in Acute Stroke and Predicting Outcome. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2018 Aug 7. pii: S1052-3057(18)30354-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2018.06.030 
 
Gupta A, Quan SF, Oldenburg O, Malhotra A, Sharma S. Sleep Disordered Breathing in Hospitalized Patients with Congestive Heart Failure: A concise review and Proposed Algorithm. Heart Fail Rev. 2018 Sep;23(5):701-709. doi: 10.1007/s10741-018-9715-y 
 
Sharma S, Mather PJ, Chowdhury A1 Gupta S, Mukhtar U, Willes L, Whellan DJ, Malhotra A, Quan SF.Sleep Overnight Monitoring For Apnea in patients hospitalized with Heart Failure (SOMA-HF study) J Clin Sleep Med. 2017 Oct 15;13(10):1185-1190. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.6768.