Markku Partinen, MD, PhD, FAAN, had his medical studies in Montpellier, France, where his supervisor in sleep medicine was Pr Pierre Passouant. Professor Partinen specialized in neurology in Helsinki and had his his PhD in Helsinki in 1982. He has been at Stanford University (prof Christian Guilleminault) in 1985-86 and in Bologna (prof Elio Lugaresi) in 1987. He was appointed Associate prof in neurology in 1987 at the University of Helsinki. He is working as Research Director at the Helsinki Sleep Clinic, Vitalmed Research Center, and as Principal Investigator in sleep medicine at Clinicum, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki. He has had many positions in scientific societies. He is the past President of the World Association of Sleep Medicine. Currently his main research topics include epidemiology of sleep disorders, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, insomnia and chronic fatigue syndrome. He has more than 300 original peer reviewed publications.