Please welcome Dr. Catherine Darley, classification Health Care, to the Rotary Club of Seattle. Catherine was proposed by Liz McGrath and seconded by Carl Behnke.A Shoreline native, Catherine graduated from Shorewood High School’s honors program and attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia. At Evergreen, Catherine discovered an interest in sleep medicine after participating in two sleep study research projects. After earning a dual bachelor’s of science and bachelor’s of arts degree at Evergreen, Catherine was offered a research assistant position at Brown University as a result of her research, where she remained for the next two-plus years.
Although Catherine liked doing medical research, she wanted to care for patients more. She returned to the Northwest to attend Bastyr University in Kenmore, where she earned her doctorate in naturopathic medicine. Dr. Darley opened her medical practice, the Institute of Naturopathic Sleep Medicine, in 2007.
She married and gave birth to her daughter, who she successfully raised following a divorce. Her 18-year-old daughter just started her freshman year at Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts.
Now an empty-nester, Catherine decided to expand her medical services. She focuses more on sleep advocacy and education about the role sleep plays in healthy and productive lives. Because inadequate sleep can impact our performance and interactions with others, Catherine provides corporate training on the relationship between sleep and productivity. She also reaches out to high-risk occupational groups – for example, first responders – where sleep deprivation negatively impacts both personal health and community relations.
Catherine’s passion for sleep medicine formed her volunteerism as well. She was actively involved in Start School Later, leading four-year advocacy and education effort that in 2016 resulted in later school start times for secondary school students in the Seattle School District. Catherine’s commitment to public service and giving back extends beyond sleep medicine. As a 22-year Ballard resident, she was board president of the nonprofit Groundswell Northwest to create public parks in her community. As a member of the Washington Women’s Foundation, Catherine co-chaired grant committees and led site visits.
When she’s not working or volunteering, Catherine loves to be outdoors. She owns 10 acres on Vashon Island that she converted to a stewardship forest. Here she works on removing invasive species and planting trees – 400 trees, to be precise – and restoring a log cabin on her property built in the 1880s. Catherine has already attended a meeting of our sustainability committee and looks forward to more public service and networking activities as a Rotarian.
