Dr Oliver Bernath

Special interests: All sleep disorders, especially those with neurological origin: narcolepsy, idiopathic hypersomnia, parasomnias (e.g. nightmares, sleepwalking), REM behaviour disorder, restless legs syndrome and periodic limb movements in sleep disorder, insomnia, nocturnal epilepsy, sleep/wake rhythm disorder, but also obstructive sleep apnoea and snoring.

Dr Oliver Bernath qualified in neurology, clinical neurophysiology/epilepsy, and sleep disorders. He is registered by the General Medical Council with added qualification in neurology. He is certified as sleep physician by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the German Society of Sleep Medicine (DGSM). He obtained a Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Ulm (Germany) for his research in muscle physiology.

Dr Bernath started his medical training at the University of Ulm (Germany) and expanded his studies with terms at University College London and the University of Otago (New Zealand). After graduating from Ulm, he trained as junior doctor at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. He then completed his neurology residence at the University of Chicago followed by postgraduate fellowships in clinical neurophysiology, epilepsy, and intraoperative monitoring at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and in Sleep Medicine at UCSF/Stanford. He obtained US Board certifications in all of these specialties. In 2000, he returned to the UK and worked at Atkinson Morley’s Hospital, Kingston Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital and now at Queen Victoria Hospital in the sleep disorders clinic.

His work ranged from operational improvement programmes in clinics and hospitals, to national healthcare transformations, policy development and regulator design.

Dr Bernath was a scholar of the German National Merit Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes) and won research prizes in epilepsy and sleep research. His latest field of interest lies in the science and clinical practice of nightmares and dreaming.