Our Expert Team

Michael T. Smith, Ph.D.

Dr. Smith is an Associate Professor in the School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame, Dr. Smith earned his Ph.D. from the California School of Professional Psychology. A licensed clinical psychologist, he is certified in behavioral sleep medicine by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Dr. Smith's clinical practice centers around the evaluation and treatment of sleep disorders (especially chronic insomnia) and chronic pain disorders. His research focuses on the neurobehavioral causes, consequences, and treatments of insomnia and sleep loss, particularly as these problems relate to chronic pain. His current research projects include: 1) evaluating how sleep disturbance affects the clinical trajectory of chronic myofascial pain associated with temporomandibular joint disorders (sponsored by the National Institute of Health - National Institutes of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke, 2) a clinical trial of the benzodiazepine receptor agonist, eszopliclone (Lunesta) for insomnia in patients with new osteoarthritis of the knee (Sponsored by Sepracor, Inc), and 3) a pilot functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) project evaluating how sleep deprivation alters functional neuroanatomic processing of pain in healthy subjects. >>MORE about Dr. Smith

Dr. Buenaver is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the School of Medicine. A graduate of the University of Arizona, Dr. Buenaver earned his PhD in clinical psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University and completed his predoctoral internship at Temple University School of Medicine. Dr. Buenaver is a licensed psychologist  and is also certified in behavioral sleep medicine by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Dr. Buenaver's clinical practice centers on pain management and the evaluation and treatment of sleep disorders (particularly chronic insomnia). Dr. Buenaver has presented and published on topics including factors contributing to chronic pain and sleep disorders. His research focuses on pain and sleep: (1) studying and designing interventions to alter behavioral and psychological mechanisms that contribute to chronic pain and associated disability, and (2) understanding the role of sleep disturbance in chronic pain to learn how sleep loss and factors that drive sleep disturbance contribute to pain, disability, and negative mood. 

Renata Okonkwo, Ph.D.

Dr. Okonkwo is a clinical and research fellow in the Johns Hopkins Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program. Dr. Okonkwo earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed her predoctoral internship at the Veteran Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System: West Haven. Her clinical practice centers around the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders including, but not limited to,  chronic insomnia and circadian sleep disorders. Dr. Okonkwo’s research interests include the impact of sleep disturbance on chronic pain, ethnic group differences in sleep and chronic pain conditions, and the impact of experiences of discrimination on health outcomes (e.g., risk for cardiovascular disease).