

Dr. Atul Malhotra
Pulmonologist
1 Podcast on BackTable
Dr. Atul Malhotra is a pulmonologist, intensivist and research chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at UC San Diego.
Learn from the experiences and expertise of Dr. Atul Malhotra and other leading voices in your specialty on the BackTable app.

Episode # 284 • 23 Jul 2026
Optimizing Nasal Airway for CPAP Compliance
Is nasal obstruction the overlooked culprit behind CPAP intolerance? On this episode of BackTable ENT & Allergy, Dr. Gopi Shah interviews Dr. Atul Malhotra and Dr. Michael Hutz to examine the critical but often underappreciated role of the nose in obstructive sleep apnea management. They discuss how nasal obstruction can undermine CPAP adherence, why relying solely on AHI may miss key issues, and how identifying the true cause of intolerance can lead to more personalized and effective therapy.
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About
Atul Malhotra, MD, is a board-certified pulmonologist, intensivist and research chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. He is active clinically in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. In the sleep clinic, Dr. Malhotra provides a full spectrum of diagnostic and therapeutic services to patients with sleep-related disorders, including sleep apnea, insomnia, restless leg syndrome, narcolepsy and sleep disorders associated with medical or psychiatric conditions. He has a special interest in the treatment of sleep apnea.
As a professor in the Department of Medicine, Dr. Malhotra is involved in training medical students, residents and fellows at UC San Diego School of Medicine.
Dr. Malhotra was the recent president of the American Thoracic Society (2015-2016). He has taught and presented his research on sleep-related disorders locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. He has published more than 310 original manuscripts in leading journals plus 220 reviews and chapters. He is a principal- and co-investigator on numerous National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants relating to sleep apnea and serves as an ad hoc reviewer for many leading journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Sleep and the Journal of American Medical Association. To view a full list of his publications, visit PubMed.
He is an internationally recognized expert in sleep apnea and was named recipient of the 2024 Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Thoracic Society.
Before joining UC San Diego Health, Dr. Malhotra practiced pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Brigham and Women's Hospital. He also served as attending physician in intensive care at King Faisal Hospital in Rwanda. He was associate professor at Harvard Medical School and medical director of the Brigham and Women's Hospital Sleep Disorders Research Program.
Dr. Malhotra completed his fellowship training in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Harvard Medical School and a residency in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic. He completed an internship at St. Thomas Medical Center in Akron, OH and received his medical degree from the University of Alberta in Canada. Dr. Malhotra is board certified in pulmonary disease, sleep medicine and critical care medicine.
Visit UC San Diego Health to learn more about Dr. Atul Malhotra.
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