SANTA BARBARA SLEEP CLINIC - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Board Certified Sleep Specialist
Andrew S. Binder, MD has been practicing sleep medicine since 1989. He was the founder and medical director of The Sleep Disorders Center of Santa Barbara, which in 1992, was the 17th accredited free standing sleep center in the country. After practicing Pulmonary and Critical Care medicine from 1978 through 1998, he focused his practice on sleep medicine. He has served on the volunteer clinical teaching faculty affiliated with University of Southern California School of Medicine as an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine.
Dr. Binder graduated Magna Cum Laude from Williams College, Massachusetts in 1967 where he majored in English literature and went on to get his MD degree from Harvard Medical School in 1971. He did his Internal Medicine training at the University of Washington, Seattle and his Pulmonary Medicine training at UC San Francisco. After practicing in Berkeley for several years, he travelled to Santa Barbara, California in 1980, where he continued to practice until 2007. He is a diplomate of the ABIM in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Diseases, and Sleep Medicine, and the American Board of Sleep Medicine, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the American College of Chest Physicians.
He has published scientific articles related to the pathophysiology of pulmonary edema and has authored several related patents related to technology for evaluating exercise physiology. He introduced the first oximeter to the Santa Barbara community and gave the very first "Sleep Apnea" lecture to his colleagues in Santa Barbara in 1982.
Job Titles:
- Board Certfied Sleep Specialist
Dr. Curatalo is Board Certified in Sleep Medicine with 22 years experience treating sleep disorders. He is also Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Curatalo earned his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego. He served as Chief Resident of Neurology and completed fellowships in Sleep Medicine, Polysomnography, Neurophysiology and Clinical Neurology at Massachusetts General at Harvard University. Dr. Curatalo provided sleep disorders medicine at the Southern California Neurological Medical Group at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles before taking a position as a Physician in the Neurology Department of Sansum-Santa Barbara Medical Clinic, specializing in Sleep Disorders Medicine. He is now in private practice in Santa Barbara specializing in adult neurology, clinical neurophysiology and sleep disorders medicine and remains a member of the Medical Executive Committee at the Rehabilitation Institute at Santa Barbara, where he was previously Chief of Staff. Dr. Curatalo is also a Neurology Teaching Attending at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and Assistant Clinical Professor of Neurology at University of Southern California, School of Medicine
Dr. Polito has extensive training and experience in the treatment and diagnosis of sleep disorders. He received his initial training from the Stanford School of Sleep Medicine. Dr. Polito is Board Certified in Sleep Medicine as well as Internal Medicine.
Born and raised in Southern California, Dr Polito attended Santa Clara University. Continuing his education he earned his MD at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, NE. Here he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society and honored with the Deans Academic Scholarship , He also did his residency in Internal Medicine at Creighton University Medical Center. Following his residency Dr Polito moved back to Southern California and practiced for 4 years in a multi-specialty group, Valley Medical Group, in Lompoc, CA. In 2003, Dr. Polito moved out on his own, starting a solo private practice in beautiful Santa Barbara, CA. It was here that Dr Polito realized the important, yet often overlooked, effect of sleep on the general health of his patients, and recognized what a profound impact treatment of sleep disorders would have in people's lives. In an effort to pursue this newfound passion further, he attended courses at Stanford University's School of Sleep Medicine. Now prepared to fully realize the important contribution he could make to the heath and wellbeing of our Santa Barbara Community, Dr Polito became the medical director of the Santa Barbara Sleep Clinic, while also continuing to practice general outpatient internal medicine. Dr Polito's passion lies in addressing and correcting sleep problems so that patients and their families all enjoy a good nights' sleep.
Dr Polito is happily married to Teresa Polito, and together they are busy raising four energetic children, one boy and three girls. As a family they enjoy music, hiking, traveling, and going to the beach.