Board

Pasadena, CA

Phelps is a strategic public relations consultant with Sitrick And Company, a Los Angeles-based firm that specializes in handling crisis situations. He has worked in behalf of an international clientele of corporate clients in the transportation, energy, finance, manufacturing, and service industries, and an array of non-profit organizations. Previously, he was head of the public relations function for the nation’s second largest electric utility and for two major U.S. rail transportation companies. Early in his career he was a staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal for 10 years. He served in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam.

Phelps has extensive non-profit board experience in addition to a prior six-year term on the RLS Foundation board. He has chaired United Way campaigns in two cities, co-founded an anti-litter organization in Roanoke, Virginia, was on the board and executive committee of the California Science Center for 15 years, and has served as chair of the board of Pasadena Heritage, one of the nation’s leading local historic preservation organizations.

Eagle, ID

Secretan is an ICF certified life coach, her practice reaching across the U.S. to South America, Australia, Bulgaria, and even Thailand. Her desire to work with adults to discover, refine and realize their goals and make lasting changes – whether in personal flourishing, wellness, or vocation – grew from an academic career spanning a quarter century. Preceded by a graduate degree in Renaissance literature with later specialization in literacy pedagogy and adult education, three years of rigorous coach-specific training and internship led to International Coach Federation credentialing and her subsequent career. She particularly appreciates being able to do pro bono coaching for two groups, Women for Change, accessible to women of limited means across the world, and Stand Beside Them, an organization that provides coaching services to returning service members and their families. Her approach reflects her diverse background and theoretical grounding in evidence-based in Positive Psychology.

Secretan serves on the board of the Professional Coaching Association of Idaho and sings with the Boise Hospice Singers. In the past, she has volunteered for Le Leche League International as a human relations trainer, and served as President and Conference Chair for the National Association for the Education of Young Children in Antelope Valley, California.

Secretan is a long-standing member of the RLS Foundation. She currently leads the Idaho RLS Support Group, and has been on the Foundation’s Board of Directors since 2014. Additionally, Secretan represents the Foundation and RLS community through her service on the Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board of the National Institutes of Health.

Englewood, CO

Bainbridge serves as a clinical pharmacy specialist at the Anschultz Outpatient Pavilion's Neurology Clinic, an extension of the Neurology Residency Teaching Program at the University of Colorado Denver. She is also a professor in the Department of Neurology at the university's School of Medicine, and teaches at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, where she was awarded Professor of the Year for three years in a row (2010-2012).

Bainbridge manages patients with neurologic disease states such as epilepsy, Parkinson disease, multiple sclerosis, migraine and restless legs syndrome. She is currently involved in research projects funded by the CDPHE using marijuana. In her recent past she has had projects funded by the NIH, spanning subjects such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and neuroprotection trials in Parkinson disease.

New York, NY

Pittsburgh, PA

Zigmond is a professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on the study of neuronal cell death, survival and adaptation in neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Currently, Zigmond's research projects concern:

• What underlies the loss of dopaminergic function in Parkinson's disease and aging, and how do trophic factors, exercise, and environmental enrichment act to decrease the vulnerability of these neurons?
• What is the relation between dopamine neuron loss and the functional deficits that occur in normal aging?
• How does isolation, whether due to long-term care, solitary confinement, or persistent feelings of loneliness, act to impair brain function and how can the damage be reversed.

Zigmond's research hopes to unearth insights that could provide new treatments for a variety of brain disorders.

Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center; Baltimore, MD

Earley is a Professor of Neurology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he also co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Restless Legs, a certified RLS Quality Care Center. Earley is board certified in internal medicine, neurology and sleep medicine. Earley's research interests include RLS and sleep medicine, specifically the pathophysiology of RLS and revealing the value of various treatments. He is chair of the RLS Foundation’s combined Scientific and Medical Advisory Board (SMAB) and an active member of the Foundation's Research Grant Committee and the Revised Treatment Consensus Committee.

ReLACS Health, Ann Arbor, MI

Before receiving Board Certification in Sleep Medicine and Neurology, Berkowski earned his bachelor's degree in religious studies at Stanford University. Next, he returned to his home state of Michigan to study medicine, graduating from Wayne State University School of Medicine. He completed a transitional year internship at Henry Ford Hospital and neurology residency training at the Detroit Medical Center/Wayne State University. Berkowski completed his fellowship training in sleep medicine at the Stanford University Medical Center. Berkowski is a sleep specialist at ReLACS Health, a direct specialty care clinic specializing in telemedicine care of RLS and complex sleep disorders, currently serving patients in Michigan, Ohio and Florida. Berkowski serves on the Foundation's Brain Bank Committee.

East Carolina University, Greenville, NC

Clemens is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. His research focuses on investigating the neural networks in the spinal cord, especially their role in neurological disorders, like RLS. He studies the role of dopamine in the spinal cord, and how the interactions between its different receptor subtypes may play a role in augmentation. At the Foundation, Clemens chairs both the Brain Bank Committee and the Research Grant Committee.

Integrative Neurobiology Section National Institute on Drug Abuse
 IRP, NIH, DHHS; Baltimore, MD

Ferré is chief of the Integrative Neurobiology Section at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, IRP, NIH. He is an RLS Foundation research grant recipient where he researched cortico-striatal transmission in iron-deficient rats as a model for the screening of drugs potentially useful in the treatment of RLS. Ferré's research interests focus on the role of neurotransmitter receptor heteromers as targets for drug development in neuropsychiatric disorders, including substance use disorders. At the Foundation, he serves as a member of the Research Grant Committee.

University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Memphis, TN

Jones is a professor of genetics, genomics, and informatics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, where he also serves as a member of the university's Neuroscience Institute. At Pennsylvania State University, Jones is a Professor Emeritus in behavioral health. His research interests include:

• Response to chronic and acute stress in adaptation and alcohol consumption
• Toxiogenetics of pesticides and neurotoxins
• Genetics of metal regulation in the brain (copper, iron and zinc)

At the RLS Foundation, Jones is an active member of the Research Grant Committee.

Yale Center for Sleep Medicine; New Haven, CT

Koo is the director for the Yale Center for Restless Legs Syndrome, an RLS Foundation certified RLS Quality Care Center, as well as the medical director of Sleep Laboratory at the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System. Koo is an associate professor of neurology at Yale University, and has been an active member of task forces and section committees related to the sleep-related movement disorders in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Koo is board certified in both neurology and sleep medicine, and much of his research lies in those categories. His research on RLS and PLMS has included animal modeling, epidemiology, proteomics and genetic analysis.

Houston Methodist Neurological Institute; Houston, TX

Ondo serves as director of the Movement Disorder Clinic at the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, a certified RLS Quality Care Center. Throughout his career, Ondo has written more than 250 articles and book chapters. A movement disorder specialist, he is board certified in adult neurology and sleep medicine. Ondo's research specializes in Parkinson's disease, essential tremors, the use of botulinum toxins in treating movement disorders, and restless legs syndrome. At the RLS Foundation, Ondo is an active member of the Opiates Committee.

Pomona Valley Medical Center, Claremont, CA

Sharon works as an independent consultant out of the Sleep Disorders Adult and Children Center of the Pomona Valley Medical Center in Claremont, CA.

Throughout her education, training and work, Sharon has amassed research experience including, but not limited to, work as a Research Associate/Quantitative Electroencephalographer in the Laboratory of Psychoelectrophysiology, Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior through MCG. Her research has been published in numerous journals, as well as industry supported pieces on Restless Legs Syndrome for Pfizer, Xenoport, Luitpold, and more.

Sharon has been involved in multiple committees for the American Association of Sleep Medicine (AASM), such as the Center Accreditation, Fellowship Accreditation, Nosology Committees and Movement Disorders Section (vice-chair). She is a member of the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study group and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Task Force on the update of the treatment of RLS and PLMD; just another way in which she is helping those with RLS. Sharon serves on the Foundation's Pediatrics and Quality Care Center Certification committees.

New Mexico VA Healthcare System; Albuquerque, NM

Board certified in neurology -- with a PhD in neuropharmacology and with substantial contributions to clinical trials, human genetics, mouse genetics, neuropharmacology and in vitro studies -- Uhl now manages a research program based at the New Mexico VA Healthcare System and his own laboratory and translational/clinical research. He has long studied the mu opiate receptor, at which several RLS drugs work, and the RLS gene PTPRD, for which he has discovered novel ligands. Uhl also has experience in addiction and Parkinson’s disease. Uhl's major research interests include:

• Translational studies of complex genetics of RLS and other brain disorders
• Mechanisms of RLS, addictions and Parkinson’s disease
• Discovery of novel therapeutic approaches to RLS, addictions and Parkinsons disease

At the Foundation, Uhl is a member of the Research Grant and Brain Bank committees.

Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA

Winkelman is board certified in both Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine and treats sleep disorders patients at Massachusetts General Hospital. He specializes in RLS, insomnia, sleep apnea, sleep-related eating disorders and parasomnias. His research primarily focuses on epidemiology, physiology, cardiovascular consequences and the treatment of RLS as well as the neurobiology and treatment of insomnia.

Winkelman is Chair of the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group and is consultant to DSM-5-TR RLS section and the AASM Sleep-Related Movement Disorders section. He served as chair of the American Academy of Neurology Practice Parameter Committee for the treatment of RLS. At the RLS Foundation, Winkelman is the current chair of the Opiates committee and serves on the Revised Treatment Consensus committee.