Who is Theresa!

Theresa Shumard started working in the field of sleep 18 years ago after a career as a medical journalist and news reporter.  She was the host of the KTEN-TV Morning News Show and a newscaster for sister radio station KADA near Oklahoma City. She was a medical reporter for the Bridgeport Post Telegram, Milford, Connecticut, and several other newspapers, and has maintained this career over the years through freelance journalism. Theresa is currently a regular contributor for several sleep-related publications and is involved in writing several books of several genres on sleep. She is the founder of REMgazer Communications.

Theresa is presently North American Manager of Sleep & Respiratory Education, Planning and Clinical Services for DeVilbiss, a division of Sunrise Medical, Inc.  She studied at the Atlanta School of Sleep Medicine in Atlanta, GA and then went on to study under Dr. Lawton Delisser of Philadelphia. She worked as a sleep technician at The Reading Hospital & Medical Center, University Services Sleep Centers in Eastern Pennsylvania, and the University of California at San Francisco, Stanford University, and the University Medical Center at Princeton. Theresa served as the director of the sleep center and educational program for Lynn Health Science Center in Oklahoma City under sleep pioneer Dr. William Orr.  

Theresa’s involvement in medicine began after her daughter was born with respiratory problems, inspiring her to help similar patients in the local hospital in 1979.  Her work at the hospital exposed Theresa to sleep disorders medicine and the profession of sleep technology as they were entering the medical scene.  She quickly realized that working in sleep medicine was what she wanted to do with her career.  She enjoyed the relationships she built with her patients and loved that she could see the positive results of her work the next day through newly alert patients. 

In the 1990s, Theresa was disappointed at the lack of written materials and brochures about sleep disorders and the technology surrounding it available to the general public and those in the field of sleep.  She decided to use her journalism experience and dedicate her time to writing about sleep to educate patients and colleagues as well as increase awareness about sleep. Her devotion to help everyone learn the benefits of sleep medicine has turned her into an international success, as she is contacted by people around the world requesting her published materials and for her to deliver lectures.  She has mentored countless technicians and encouraged many others to enter the sleep profession. 

Theresa’s success extends beyond her desire to educate others about sleep medicine.  Within days of Hurricane Katrina destroying the Gulf Coast she and a longtime sleep technologist friend, Claude Albertario, had launched Operation Sleep Community Katrina Relief (OSCKR).  Through OSCKR they made it possible for displaced victims to receive help from the sleep community in ways of shelter, job offers, housing offers, care packages, frequent flyer mile donations and more. Through this leadership, thousands of hurricane victims have received help through this traumatic time in their lives.  

Theresa served on the Board of the American Association of Sleep Technologists (AAST) (formerly called the Association of Polysomnographic Technologists [APT]), for 10 years was the Editor in Chief of A2Zzz Magazine, AAST’s publication for sleep technologists. Theresa was an AAST delegate to the Allied Health Professions Network (HPN) and currently represents the National Patient Educators Network (NPEN) in the HPN.  She has been chosen as an Associated Press Award winning medical journalist, selected for the 2003 Coalition for Allied Health Leadership and is a recipient of the AAST 2000 McGregor Award. 

Theresa is well-known as an international lecturer in the areas of drowsy driving prevention, disease management, treatment compliance, health literacy, patient education and social issues sometimes associated with CPAP therapy, polysomnographic technologist professional development measures, trends and applications of sleep technology, and strategies to decrease allied health workforce shortages. 

Theresa married her husband Don 34 years ago, and they have a close-knit family of five children, Jeremy, Jennifer, Jillian, Jordan and Jody, and three grandchildren, Felicia, Rebecca and Isaiah. They are anxiously awaiting the birth of their fourth grandchild, Owen Robert Lewis, in March 2007. Theresa and Don are avid music enthusiasts and gardeners, growing and preserving a large portion of the family’s fruits and vegetables. Theresa relaxes in her rose garden, where only pink roses may be found.