Officers

Executive Director & President

Kevin J. Cosgrove is a pharmaceutical sales representative for Galderma Laboratories.  With over ten years of sales expereience, he has one multiple President’s Club Awards ranked in the top of his salesforce.  Mr. Cosgrove founded and incorporated Wake Up Narcolepsy, Inc. along with Co-founders David and Monica Gow in November of 2008.  Diagnosed with Narcolepsy in 2006 Mr. Cosgrove felt there was an unmet need to promote and foster further education and awareness about narcolepsy through charitable fundraising events.  In 2009 Mr. Cosgrove was honored with the National Public Service Award from the Narcolepsy Network at there 24th Annual Conference for his efforts to spread further education and awareness about narcolepsy.

Co-Founder & Vice-President

David Gow is a member of Ernst & Young’s New England Private Capital Group and has more than 20 years of experience working closely with private capital and venture capital firms. Mr. Gow has extensive experience in areas such as investment fund accounting and reporting, asset valuation, partnership accounting and evaluation of internal controls.  David, and his wife Monica became motivated to bring further awareness and education to the narcolepsy community when their son was diagnosed in 2008.

Clerk

Sean R. Higgins is an associate in Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough’s Boston office, where he practices in the areas of business and consumer finance litigation. Presently, Mr. Higgins’s litigation practice focuses on consumer finance, banking, and general business disputes.  Mr. Higgins has experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in business and commercial disputes, and has participated in matters involving real estate, housing, construction, bankruptcy, toxic torts, medical malpractice, and personal injury. He has trial experience in both state and federal court, as well as various arbitrations and mediations. He is responsible for all aspects of discovery and trial preparation, including depositions, written discovery, witness preparation, and motion practice.  Mr. Higgins played a very important role incorporating Wake Up Narcolepsy as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization along with founder Kevin Cosgrove, he continues to represent the foundation in all legal matters.

Medical Advisory Board Members

Emmaunel Mignot M.D. Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Director of the Center for Narcolepsy, is internationally recognized as having discovered the cause of narcolepsy. He is also known for his discovery of a polymorphism of the “clock” gene that appears to alter individuals’ internal biorhythms and for the finding of a gene variant that predisposes to sleep apnea. Dr. Mignot is a former student of the Ecole Normale Superieure (Ulm, Paris, France). He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Paris V and VI University in France. He practiced medicine in France for several years before serving as a visiting scholar at the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Center and later as a visiting assistant professor at Stanford. He joined the Stanford faculty as acting assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and was named director of the Stanford Center for Narcolepsy in 1993. Dr. Mignot was named professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences in 2001. Dr. Mignot has received numerous research grants and honors, including National Sleep Foundation and National Institute of Health Research Awards, the Narcolepsy Network professional service award, the Drs. C. and F. Demuth 11th Award for Young Investigators in the Neurosciences, the WC Dement Academic Achievement Award in sleep disorders medicine, the CINP and ACNP awards in neuropharmacology and the Jacobaeus prize. He is the co-author of more than 100 original scientific publications, and he serves on the editorial board of scientific journals in the field of sleep disorders research. Dr. Mignot is an active member of several professional and governmental organizations and currently chairs the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research Advisory board of the National institutes of Health.

Thomas E. Scammell M.D. Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Associate Professor, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Associate Physician, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Scammell’s research focuses on the neurobiology of narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is caused by destruction of the hypothalamic neurons that make the neuropeptides orexin/hypocretin. Research has found that the orexin-producing neurons are active during wakefulness, identifying the numerous inputs to these cells. Dr. Scammell’s focuses on identifying the critical pathways through which orexin promotes wakefulness and suppresses cataplexy. Current research has produced mice with inducible, focal expression of the orexin receptors. Additional experiments seek to identify how drugs used in the treatment of narcolepsy improve sleepiness and cataplexy. These experiments hope to provide more insight into understanding of the neurobiology of orexin that will result in highly effective therapies for patients with narcolepsy and enhance our knowledge of sleep.

Other Advisory Board Members

Mike Birbiglia  is a comedian, writer, and actor. He has released three albums, including My Secret Public Journal Live,  and has starred in his own one man show Sleepwalk With Me. Birbiglia was diagnosed with a sleep disorder called REM Behavior Sleep Disorder, persons with this disorder act out there dreams at night. One of these episodes happened when Birbiglia was sleeping in a hotel, he had a dream that a guided missle was going to hit the hotel he was staying in. His reaction was to jump out the window to escape the preceived threat. These episodes led Birgbiglia to incorporate his sleep disorder into his comedian act. The launch of Sleepwalk with Me has led to such awards as Best Male Stand Up in 2003, as well as the Outstanding Solo Show award in 2009.

Nicole Jeray has been playing professional golf for 17 years.  She first qualified for the Ladies Professional Golf Tour in 1994.  Shortly after joining the tour Nicole was diagnosed with narcolepsy in 1996.  Since then Jeray has appeared in countless print and media campaigns spreading education and awareness about narcolepsy.  In December of 2009, Jeray finished in 5th place at the LPGA tour qualifying school which will allow her to participate in most LPGA tournaments in 2010.  In January of 2010, Jeray became the National Spokesperson for the Wake Up Narcolepsy Foundation.