SomnusNooze
The Hypersomnia Foundation is pleased to announce that Monica Gow, co-founder and former executive director of Wake Up Narcolepsy (WUN), is joining the list of presenters at HF’s Regional Conference in Boston on June 4th.
In 2008, when her son, Thomas, was diagnosed with narcolepsy, Monica and her husband, David, co-founded WUN to increase narcolepsy awareness and education and to accelerate research. In October 2016, Monica moved from the role of executive director to a member of the WUN Board of Directors. Under Monica’s leadership, WUN quickly moved from a local nonprofit organization to a recognized national and international organization offering a trusted resource for physicians, people with narcolepsy, their families, and other agencies in the sleep space. She has been the WUN Boston Marathon team captain for eight years and personally completed the Boston Marathon four times for Wake Up Narcolepsy, exceeding her fundraising goal each time. She has two other children, Caroline and Joe, who have been involved with the organization since inception. Prior to serving the narcolepsy community, Monica gained ten years of work experience in the insurance field in companies such as The Paul Revere Insurance Companies and Tufts Associated Health Plan, and she is a certified elementary teacher. Monica’s mission will always be to improve the lives of people living with narcolepsy.
The title of Monica’s talk is The Importance of Participating in a Registry.
Speakers already scheduled include Dr. Lynn Marie Trotti of Emory University and Georgia disability attorney Anjel Burgess. Dr. Trotti will provide a clinical update on the field of IH and the CoRDS patient registry. Ms. Burgess will discuss how workers with IH should prepare to “Stay Ahead of IH” on the job. In addition, HF Board Member Celia King will moderate a discussion on managing IH at college, featuring Mary King, EdD, and two college students, Olivia G. Robbins and Jessamine Griewahn-Okita. Kate Kaplan, PhD, of Stanford University, will review ways that therapy can help individuals with hypersomnia manage symptoms and lead active, full lives.
The conference takes place in Boston on Sunday, June 4th in the Johnson Building of the Boston Public Library, Rabb Lecture Hall, from 12:30 – 4:30 p.m. Optional social events planned for Saturday June 3rd include a trolley tour of the city (tickets $25) and a casual “meet and greet” evening.
The conference is free and can also be viewed via livestream.
For more information, and to register for the conference or the livestream: https://www.hypersomniafoundation.org/2017hfrc/.
For tickets to the sight-seeing trolley tour on June 3rd: Get Tickets Now.