Jag Sunderram, MD

Dr. Jag Sunderram earned his medical degree from Karnatak Medical College India. After completing internal medicine residency at Nassau County Medical Center where he was chief resident, he completed his pulmonary and critical care fellowship at RWJMS and postdoctoral training in sleep and respiratory neurobiology under the mentorship of Judith A. Neubaur, Dr. Sunderram joined the faculty at RWJMS in 1999. Dr. Sunderram maintains a general pulmonary and sleep medicine practice at RWJMS, serving a wide variety of patients. He also performs inpatient pulmonary consultations and works in the Medical Intensive Care Unit of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital where he was the medical director from 2002-2021.  He also plays an active role in the clinical and research training of  pulmonary and Critical Care faculty, fellows, internal medicine residents, medical students, and undergraduates. 

• Interim Chief, RWJMS Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, 2020 to present 

• Core faculty member, RWJMS Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship 

• Member, Admissions committee, Rutgers RWJMS 

• Member, School of Graduate Studies, Rutgers University 

• NIEHS Center for Environmental Exposures and Disease (CEED), Rutgers Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute  

• Member, Academy of mentors and KL2 Preceptor, NJ Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science 

• Counsel Representative New Jersey Chapter of American Thoracic Society  

• Member, Scale Committee, American Thoracic Society 

• Member, Board Review and MOC Committee, American Thoracic Society 

• Member, VA Biomedical Laboratory/Clinical Science (BL/CS) Scientific Merit Review

• Medical School: Karnatak Medical College, MD 1988 

• Internal Medicine Residency: Nassau County Medical Center, 1995 

• Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship: UMDNJ, RWJMS, 1998 

• Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology post doctoral fellowship: UMDNJ, RWJMS, 1999 

• RWJMS Pulmonary and Critical Care Research Mentor of the Year, 2023 

• New Jersey Monthly Magazine, Top Doctors 2016-2018, 2021 

• Member NIH Study Section: ZRG1 PSE K 08 (Cancer, Heart, and Sleep Epidemiology Panel A: July 2016-June 2020. 

• American Thoracic Society Fellow 2019 

• Chair, Counsil of Chapter Representatives of the American Thoracic Society 2018-2019 

• President, New Jersey Thoracic Society 2017-2019 

• Alpha Omega Alpha, 2017 

• Excellence in teaching award presented by the Internal Medicine Residents of RWJMS 2004-8, 2010-2012. 

• Chief Resident, Internal medicine residency, 1994-1995. 

In the clinic, Dr. Sunderram enjoys treating patients with a variety of pulmonary and sleep disorders related to dyspnea management, chronic cough, asthma, COPD, interstitial lung diseases, Obstructive sleep apnea and other sleep disordered breathing, Narcolepsy, idiopathic hypersomnia and Insomnia.  

Dr. Sunderram works in the Medical ICU as a medical intensivist taking care of medically critically ill patients and performs inpatient pulmonary consultations on patients with a wide range of pulmonary issues.  

Dr. Sunderram’s research centers around pathogenesis, epidemiology and consequences of OSA and other sleep disorders in special populations including the World Trade Center (WTC) general responder cohort. 

• Cardiovascular consequences of OSA and sleep disturbance in the WTC general responder cohort 

• Risk of Alzheimer's dementia and impaired cognition in the WTC general responder cohort with OSA (collaboration with Dr. Ayappa at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai (ISSM)) 

• Sleep stability, emotional memory and risk for neurodegeneration in WTC responders(collaboration with Dr. Mullins at ISSM.) 

• Role of chronic intermittent hypoxia and WTC dust in lung injury (collaboration with Gow lab in the school of Pharmacy, Rutgers) 

1. Ayappa I, Laumbach R, Black K, Weintraub M, Agarwala P, Twumasi A, Sanders H, Udasin I, Harrison D, de la Hoz RE, Chen Y, Chitkara N, Mullins AE, Castillo HR, Rapoport DM, Lu SE, Sunderram J. Nasal resistance and inflammation: mechanisms for obstructive sleep apnea from chronic rhinosinusitis. J Clin Sleep Med. 2024 Oct 1;20(10):1627-1636. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.11216. PubMed PMID: 38888597; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11446130.  

2. Sunderram J, Legard A, De Resende A, Black K, Udasin IG, Lu SE, Romero Castillo H, Ravi SS, Mullins AE, de la Hoz RE, Rapoport DM, Ayappa I. Lack of association of impaired upper airway sensation with the presence or absence of obstructive sleep apnoea or chronic rhinosinusitis in World Trade Center responders. Occup Environ Med. 2024 Jul 10;81(6):302-307. doi: 10.1136/oemed-2023-109262. PubMed PMID: 38871449; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11239276. 

3. De la Fuente JRO, Greenberg P, Sunderram J. The overlap of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obstructive sleep apnea in hospitalizations for acute exacerbation of COPD. J Clin Sleep Med. 2024 Jan 8;. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.11000. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 38189375. 

4. Udasin IG, Sunderram J, Calvert G. The World Trade Center Health Program: Obstructive sleep apnea best practices. Arch Environ Occup Health. 2023 Apr 5;:1-3. doi: 10.1080/19338244.2023.2195604. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 37017101. 

5. Knauert MP, Ayas NT, Bosma KJ, Drouot X, Heavner MS, Owens RL, Watson PL, Wilcox ME, Anderson BJ, Cordoza ML, Devlin JW, Elliott R, Gehlbach BK, Girard TD, Kamdar BB, Korwin AS, Lusczek ER, Parthasarathy S, Spies C, Sunderram J, Telias I, Weinhouse GL, Zee PC. Causes, Consequences, and Treatments of Sleep and Circadian Disruption in the ICU: An Official American Thoracic Society Research Statement. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2023 Apr 1;207(7):e49-e68. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202301-0184ST. PubMed PMID: 36999950.