Dr. Raymond Bourey joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology as an Associate Professor as of December 2023. From New Hampshire, Dr. Bourey grew up in the Chicago area as a musician and outdoorsman. He returned recently to Washington University after a 28-year absence. His work has been guided by the aspiration to help men and women maximize their functional capacity – that is, their physical, mental, and emotional ability to accomplish their goals. After early contributions to our understanding of exercise, muscle glucose metabolism, and aging, Dr. Bourey has turned to focus on neuroendocrine control of sleep, appetite, and metabolism.
In 1995, Dr. Bourey identified a connection between poor sleep and high morning blood sugars in patients with early type 2 diabetes. He subsequently undertook additional training and study in sleep medicine, which he felt, as an endocrinologist and exercise physiologist, represented a “back door” to study of metabolic control by brain and central nervous system. Dr. Bourey’s clinical research currently centers on deleterious effects of menopause on sleep and metabolism. Menopause can be surgical, medication-induced (chemotherapy), or a natural consequence of aging. Menopause is associated with disruption of sleep and features of the metabolic syndrome, including obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and insulin resistance. Evidence supports a direct metabolic relationship between sleep disruption and development of the metabolic syndrome.
In 2011, Dr. Bourey defined the disorder primary menopausal insomnia. Clinical studies have been planned to assess the (1) relationship between sleep disruption, and nocturnal hyperglycemia as measured by continuous interstitial fluid glucose monitoring; (2) relationship of sleep disruption to hot flashes or vasomotor events measured by skin conductance; and (3) treatment of menopausal sleep disruption and menopausal symptoms by modulators of voltage-gated calcium channels and other pharmacological interventions. Dr. Bourey has published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and reviews. His key interests are neuroendocrine control of appetite, sleep, and metabolism, menopausal insomnia and obesity, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, genomic and non-genomic mechanisms of estrogen and progesterone deficiency as causes of obesity, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome.