Interview

Q&A with a University Hospitals sleep doctor

University Hospitals Streetsboro Health Center has a new doctor of sleep medicine

Dr. Eileen Wong recently joined University Hospitals Streetsboro Health Center and answered a few questions from the PR folks over at the hospital. They sent us this interview to introduce Dr. Wong to the community.

You specialize in sleep medicine. Can you tell the community a little bit about what you do?

I read sleep studies and see patients with sleep disorders. I also manage patients on Inspire, an innovative alternative to a CPAP machine for patients who have obstructive sleep apnea and are unable to tolerate a CPAP.

What types of sleep-related issues do you solve? When should community members seek care from you?

I manage a variety of sleep-related issues which can be categorized into six classes:

1. Sleep-related breathing disorders: When a person snores and has long pauses in breathing during sleep, with or without a gasping or choking sensation, this is called sleep apnea. Sleep apnea falls under sleep-related breathing disorders.

2. Hypersomnia: Excessive sleepiness whether in an active state (standing up, eating, writing, driving, talking to somebody and reading) or passive state (watching TV, sitting at home doing nothing, sitting in a meeting or movie theater).

3. Insomnia: Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite having adequate opportunity to sleep, leading to daytime symptoms such as trouble focusing at work, trouble remembering things and very irritable or moody.

4. Parasomnia: Abnormal behavior while sleeping, which includes but is not limited to, sleep walking, night terrors, sleep eating, isolated sleep paralysis, nightmares and acting out dreams.

5. Sleep-related movement disorders: These include, but are not limited to, sleep-related bruxism (clenching or grinding teeth while sleeping), sleep-related leg cramps and restless leg syndrome.

6. Circadian rhythm disorders: Problems with our internal clock, which include but are not limited to delayed sleep-wake phase disorder (also known as night owl personality); advanced sleep-wake phase disorder (also known as lark personality); irregular sleep-wake phase disorder (commonly seen in patients with dementia who sleeps at least three times a day in daytime and have difficulty failing asleep accompanied by sun downing symptoms); shift work disorder; and jet lag.

How long have you been practicing medicine? What is your favorite part about being a physician?

I have been practicing medicine for 16 years. Being able to help patients feel better and improve their quality of life gives me fulfillment as a physician. Educating my patients is my favorite part about being a physician. I believe that good patient education empowers patients to get better in taking care of their health.

Where are you from? Where did you work previously?

I was born and raised in the Philippines, completed medical school in 2004 and three-year internal medicine residency training in the Philippines back in 2008. I came to the U.S. in 2010 and completed another three-year internal medicine residency training at Cook County Hospital in Chicago back in 2013. I worked as an internist for four years and later on, as a hospitalist for one year in Wichita, Kan., from 2013 to 2018. I moved to Ohio in 2018 for my sleep medicine fellowship at UH.

Any other details you’d like to share — other professional interests, hobbies, family life, etc.?

My hobbies include baking, cooking, traveling, reading and watching Netflix. I am the eldest of three siblings. My parents still live in the Philippines. One of my sisters lives in Streetsboro, while the youngest sister lives in Hong Kong. I am happily married to Dr. Marvin Sih who is a neurologist/sleep specialist at UH Portage Medical Center. We have two kids, a 9-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son.

Anything else you’d like to add?

In addition to seeing patients in the Streetsboro area, I also have clinic at UH Geauga.

Dr. Wong’s office is located at:
UH Streetsboro Health Center, 1st floor
9318 State Route 14
Streetsboro, OH 44241

You can make an appointment today by calling 330–422–7733.

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