General Info

Yi Cai, MD is an Assistant Professor and Director of Sleep Surgery at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She is driven by the desire to improve patients’ sleep through innovative clinical and research approaches. As one of the few fellowship-trained sleep surgeons in the New York City area, Dr. Cai has expertise in the diagnosis and surgical management of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). She devotes significant attention to upper airway evaluation in personalizing treatment for her patients and offers the full spectrum of surgical sleep apnea care, ranging from nasal and pharyngeal surgery to skeletal surgery to hypoglossal nerve stimulation (Inspire therapy). Dr. Cai received her undergraduate degree with honors from Harvard College and her medical degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she was awarded the Coakley Memorial Prize and Donald M. Palatucci Prize. She then completed her residency in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. There, she led quality improvement initiatives as a chief resident, received a Patient Care Fund Award, and served as Co-Chair of the UCSF Resident and Fellow’s Council. Dr. Cai then completed fellowship training in both Sleep Medicine and Sleep Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was selected to attend the AASM Young Investigators Research Forum. Since specializing in sleep surgery, Dr. Cai has given several presentations at the premier global conferences in otolaryngology, sleep medicine, and sleep surgery. As one of