Our professionals
Dr. Elena Urrestarazu
Head of the Sleep Unit.
Specialist in Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology.
Primary focus on sleep disorders.
Professional career
Medical Degree (1996) and PhD (2004) in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Navarra. Recipient of the Extraordinary Doctorate Award from the University of Navarra.
Specialist in Neurology (2001) and in Clinical Neurophysiology (2012) at Clínica Universidad de Navarra. She received a grant for Specific Training in Epilepsy from the Spanish Society of Neurology (2002). Mini-fellowship in Epilepsy, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Epilepsy Unit of the Montreal Neurological Institute (McGill University).
Fellowship in Neurophysiology at the Montreal Neurological Institute.
Sleep expert certified by the Spanish Sleep Society. European expert in sleep medicine accredited by the European Sleep Research Society.
Specialist in the Department of Clinical Neurophysiology. Head of the Sleep Unit at Clínica Universidad de Navarra since 2025.
RESEARCH AREAS
She has participated in 6 research projects on epilepsy and sleep. Her current research focuses on the diagnosis, impact, and treatment of sleep disorders, particularly sleep apnea, insomnia, and shift work disorder.
AREAS OF INTEREST
Her main area of interest is sleep disorders.
Activity
In teaching
Accredited by ANECA as Full Professor. Full Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Navarra.
She teaches in the Medicine Degree program at the University of Navarra and is responsible for the courses “Sleep Disorders” and “Preclinical”.
She also teaches theoretical and practical classes in the course Clinical Neurophysiology and in the Master’s Degree in Neuroscience and Cognition. In addition, she collaborates in teaching in the Psychology Degree program.
She received a highly favorable evaluation of her teaching activity from the Teaching Activity Evaluation Committee of the University of Navarra in December 2012.
In research
She received her PhD with Extraordinary Award.
She has authored more than 50 articles in national and international scientific journals and has presented over 90 communications at national and international congresses.
She has contributed to more than 15 book chapters and has been co-editor of the Atlas of Adult Electroencephalography, published by Elsevier.