Awards

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine awards recognize leaders who have made singular contributions to the AASM and the fields of sleep medicine and sleep and circadian research. The AASM board of directors selects the recipients based on the recommendations of the Awards Advisory Panel. The awards are presented during the plenary session of the SLEEP annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC (APSS). Learn about AASM award nominations.

In honor of Nathanial Kleitman 

The “Premier Sleep Medicine Award.” This award was created in 1981 and originally named after Nathanial Kleitman, who through his research on REM sleep, circadian rhythms, and the effect of drugs on sleep, helped to pioneer the field of sleep medicine and formed foundational elements relevant to the practice of sleep medicine today.  This foundation has been further strengthened over decades by numerous clinicians, psychologists, researchers, and scientists who have dedicated themselves through service to the AASM and a combination of multiple elements including:

  1. Research and scientific contribution
  2. Clinical achievement
  3. Education and mentoring
  4. Public Health Advocacy
  5. Community Service to the sleep community (AASM) and beyond.

Nominees and thus recipients of this award are those who strove throughout their careers to contribute to several of these foundational elements, including service to the AASM, and by doing so, helped to advance sleep medicine to where it is today through outstanding work and service to the field of sleep medicine.

2024 Michael Littner, MD

2023 Timothy Morgenthaler, MD

2022 Meir Kryger, MD

2021 M. Safwan Badr, MD

2020 Richard B. Berry, MD

2019 Patrick J. Strollo, Jr., MD

2018 Jack D. Edinger, PhD

2017 David F. Dinges, PhD

2016 Jerome A. Barrett

2015 Nancy A. Collop, MD

2014 Alejandro Chediak, MD

2013 Clete Kushida, MD, PhD, RPSGT, RST

2012 Lawrence Epstein, MD

2011 Ronald R. Grunstein, MD

2010 Michael H. Silber, MBChB

2009 Michael J. Sateia, MD

2008 Conrad Iber, MD

2007 Andrew L. Chesson Jr., MD

2006 John Shepard Jr., MD

2005 Stuart Quan, MD

2004 Daniel J. Buysse, MD

2003 Wolfgang Schmidt-Nowara, MD

2002 Thomas Hobbins, MD

2001 J. Christian Gillin, MD

2000 David P. White, MD

1999 Jon F. Sassin, MD

1998 Mark Mahowald, MD

1997 Paul A. Fredrickson, MD

1996 Allan I. Pack, MB, ChB, PhD

1995 James K. Walsh, PhD

1994 Richard Ferber, MD

1993 Michael Thorpy, MD

1992 Philip Westbrook, MD

1991 Mary Carskadon, PhD

1990 Thomas Roth, PhD

1989 Peter Hauri, PhD

1988 Helmet Schmidt, MD and Helio Lemmi, MD

1987 William C. Dement, MD, PhD

1986 Christian Guilleminault, MD

1985 Allan Rechtschaffen, PhD

1984 Mitchell Balter, PhD and Merrill Mitler, PhD

1983 Elliot Weitzman, MD

1982 William C. Dement, MD, PhD

1981 Ismet Karacan, MD and Howard Roffwarg, MD

In honor of William C. Dement 

The Excellence in Research Award recognizes members of the sleep field who have displayed exceptional initiative and progress in the areas of sleep academic research, dissemination of knowledge, and mentoring of the next generation of physicians and scientists. The award’s namesake, William C. Dement, MD, PhD, was one of the nation’s leading sleep researchers. His extensive publication of research and work with REM sleep has greatly advanced the sleep medicine field. The Excellence in Research Award embodies the pursuit of knowledge and an unceasing quest to disseminate truth in the areas of basic, translational, and clinical research.

2024 Shahrokh Javaheri, MD

2023 Mary Carskadon, PhD

2022 David Rapoport, MD

2021 Terri Weaver, PhD, RN

2020 Atul Malhotra, MD

2019 Sonia Ancoli-Israel, PhD

2018 Naresh M. Punjabi, MD, PhD

2017 Susan Redline, MD, MPH

2016 Carol A. Landis, PhD, RN, FAAN

2015 Carole L. Marcus, MBBCh

2014 Phyllis Zee, MD, PhD

2013 David Gozal, MD

2012 John Stradling, MD

2011 Mark H. Sanders, MD

2010 Stuart F. Quan, MD

2009 David P. White, MD

2008 Terry Young, MS, PhD

2007 Mark Mahowald, MD and Carlos Schenck, MD

2006 Robert W. McCarley, MD

2005 Jerome Siegel, PhD

2004 David F. Dinges, PhD

2003 Elio Lugaresi, MD

2002 Charles Czeisler, MD, PhD

2001 Allan Pack, MB, ChB, PhD

2000 Emmanuel Mignot, MD, PhD

1999 Wallace B. Mendelson, MD

1998 Michael S. Aldrich, MD

1997 Roger J. Broughton, MD, PhD

1996 Meir Kryger, MD

1995 Christian Guilleminault, MD

1994 William C. Dement, MD, PhD

Established in 2002, the Excellence in Education Award is presented to those individuals who have made outstanding contributions in the teaching of sleep medicine. The award serves to recognize and honor dedicated individuals who have skillfully taught and enhanced the knowledge of professional and lay people in the areas of sleep and sleep medicine.

2024 Iris Perez, MD

2023 Ronald Chervin, MD, MS

2022 Seema Khosla, MD

2021 Scott Williams, MD

2020 Madeleine M. Grigg-Damberger, MD

2019 Loretta Colvin, ACNP-BC

2018 Kingman P. Strohl, MD

2017 Michael H. Silber, MBChB, FAASM

2016 Neil Freedman, MD and Richard S. Rosenberg, PhD

2015 Patrick J. Strollo, Jr., MD

2014 Alon Y. Avidan, MD, MPH

2013 Suresh Kotagal, MD

2012 Teofilo L. Lee-Chiong, Jr., MD

2011 Barbara Phillips, MD, MSPH, FCCP

2010 Richard B. Berry, MD

2009 James A. Rowley, MD

2008 Michael R. Littner, MD

2007 Vernon Pegram, MD

2006 Judith A. Owens, MD, MPH

2004 Meir Kryger, MD, FRCPC and Marvin R. Dunn, MD (posthumous)

2002 Richard Ferber, MD

The Sleep Health Advocate Award, established in 1996, was originally given in honor of Senator Mark O. Hatfield.  The award acknowledges an individual who has demonstrated leadership in expanding knowledge of sleep health, enhancing public awareness, and promoting pro-sleep public policy.

2024 Lynne Lamberg, MA

2023 Karin Johnson, MD, and Jay Pea

2022 Susan Redline, MD, MPH

2021 Indira Gurubhagavatula, MD, MPH

2020 Rep. Zoe Lofgren and Rep. Rodney Davis

2019 Senator Anthony Portantino

2018 Arianna Huffington

2017 Anne Ferro

2016 Janet B. Croft, PhD

2015 Michael J. Twery, PhD

2014 Wayne H. Giles, MD, MS

2013 Rita Brooks, RST, RPSGT

2012 Judith A. Owens, MD, MPH

2011 Mark R. Rosekind, PhD

2010 Charles A. Czeisler, MD, PhD

2009 Alejandro Chediak, MD

2008 Neil B. Kavey, MD

2007 Paul Fredrickson, MD and Andrew O. Jamieson, MD

2006 R. Bart Sangal, MD

2005 Claude Lenfant, MD

2004 Not Awarded

2003 Mark Mahowald, MD and Mary Carskadon, PhD

2002 Not Awarded

2001 David Dinges, PhD

2000 Rep. John E. Porter

1999 James Kiley, PhD

1998 James K. Walsh, PhD

1997 William C. Dement, MD, PhD

1996 Sen. Mark Hatfield

The Clinical Achievement Award, established in 2024, honors a sleep clinician who has made transformative contributions to clinical sleep care.  Examples include those who pioneer novel approaches to clinical care, and those who develop innovative programs to enhance access to high-quality sleep health care and mitigate inequities in sleep health.

2024 Lisa Wolfe, MD

Other Awards

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine also presents other awards to recognize individual contributions to the AASM and the sleep field.

Established in 2015, the Stuart Quan Award for Editorial Excellence recognizes the outstanding work of an associate editor of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. The recipient is selected by the editor-in-chief, and the award is presented at the annual meeting of the JCSM editorial board. The award is named in honor of JCSM Founding Editor Dr. Stuart Quan, who served as editor-in-chief from 2005 – 2014.

2024 Susan M. Harding, MD

2023 Sasikanth Gorantla, MD, MS

2022 Ripu D. Jindal, MD

2021 Cathy Goldstein, MD

2020 Col. Jacob F. Collen, MD

2019 Richard B. Berry, MD

2018 Madeline M. Grigg-Damberger, MD

2017 Emerson M. Wickwire, PhD, and Christina S. McCrae, PhD

2016 Romy Hoque, MD

2015 Stuart F. Quan, MD

The AASM Trainee Investigator Award, formerly the Young Investigator Award, recognizes an AASM Student/Resident Member for an outstanding research abstract presented at the SLEEP annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS). Applicants’ abstracts are reviewed and scored by the AASM Education Committee, which makes recommendations to the AASM Board of Directors for final approval. The recipients are recognized at the AASM annual membership meeting in June.

2024 – Kyle Nameth
“Healthy Sleep, Healthy Mind: Examining the Relationship Between Objective Sleep Measures and Delirium Development”

2023 – Melissa Nevarez-Brewster
“Prenatal Maternal Sleep Quality Predicts Neonatal White Matter Microstructure and Infant Negative Emotionality”

2022 – Catherine Heinzinger
“Sleep-Related Hypoxemia Association with Incident Atrial Fibrillation in a Clinic-Based Cohort”

2021 – Omonigho Bubu
“Association of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Severity and Novel Plasma Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology”

2020 – Kent Werner
“Poor Sleep Quality Predicts Serum Markers Of Neurodegeneration And Cognitive Deficits In Warriors With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury”

2019 – Shadab Rahman
“Attentional Failures Are Correlated With Serious Medical Errors In Resident Physicians”

2018 – Camila Hirotsu
“Obstructive Sleep Apnea As Risk Factor For Incident Metabolic Syndrome In The Episono Cohort: An 8-year Follow-up Study”

2017 – Christopher Depner
“Simulated Night-Shift Work Alters the Balance and 24h Pattern of the Coagulation-Fibrinolysis Axis”

2016 – Kimberly Truong
“Characteristics of Unanticipated Hospital Admissions and Readmissions in CPAP Compliant and Non-Compliant Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea”

2015 – Aaron Holley
“Correlation between Respiratory Resistance Measurements and Apnea-Hypopnea Index”

2014 – Sheila Garland
“A Randomized Trial of Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Armodafinil to Treat Insomnia and Daytime Sleepiness in Cancer Survivors”

2013 – Camilla Hoyos
“Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Improves Hyposomatotropism in Men with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA): A Randomized Sham-Controlled 12 Week Study”

2012 – Denise Jarrin
“Neighborhood Disorder Moderates the Association Between Sleep and Socioeconomic Status”

2011 – Birgitte Kornum
“Common Variant in the P2Y11 Receptor Gene is Associated with Narcolepsy and with Higher Susceptibility to ATP Induced Cell Death in T Lymphocytes”

2010 – Siobhan Banks
“Effect of Sleep Dose on Recovery Sleep Stage and Slow Wave Energy Dynamics Following Chronic Sleep Restriction”

2009 – Rakesh Battacharjee
“Obstructive Sleep Apnea Exacerbates Dysfunction in Both Obese and Non-Obese Children”

2008 – Ehab Dayyat
“Peripheral recruitment of marrow-derived very small embryonic-like (VSEL) stem cells following intermittent hypoxia during sleep”

2007 – Frank Scheer
“Desynchrony Between Sleep-Wake Cycle and Circadian Cycle Leads to Suppressed Plasma Leptin; Potential Relevance for Shift Workers”

2006 – Sanjay Patel
“Reduced Sleep is a Risk Factor for Weight Gain”

2005 – Esra Tasali
“Experimental Suppression of Slow Wave Sleep Without Change in Total Sleep Time is Associated with Decreased Insulin Sensitivity and Glucose Tolerance”

2004 – Deirdre Conroy
“The Daily Rhythm of Brain Blood Flow”

2003 – Sanjay Patel
“A Prospective Study of Sleep Duration and Mortality Risk in Women”

2002 – Alex Desautels
“A Genetic Locus for RLS Maps to Chromosome 12q”

2001 – Carsten Beuckmann
“Genetic Ablation of Orexin Neurons Causes Narcolepsy in Mice”

2000 – Richard Chemelli
“Polysomnographic Characterization of Orexin-2 Receptor Knockout Mice”

1999 – Elda Arrigoni
“GABAergic and Glutamatergic Transmission in the Laterodorsal Tegmentum are Presynaptic Modulated by Adenosine”

1998 – Christelle Peyron
“mRNA Levels of Brain Derived-Neurotrophin Factor Increase in the Cerebral Cortex After Sleep Deprivation”

1997 – Mahesh Thakkar
“Neuronal Activity in the Cholinergic Pendunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus”

1996 –
“The Effects of Short and Long Naps Among Narcoleptic, Sleep Deprived and Alert Subjects”

1995 –
“A 1-Cycle Bright Light Stimulus Induces Type 1 Resetting in Human Subjects”

1994 –

1993 –
“Cholinergic Stimulation of Cataplexy in the Narcoleptic Canine: Evidence of M2 Muscarinic Receptor Mediation in the Pontine Reticular Formation and the Basal Forebrain”

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leadership Award is a joint venture of the AASM and the SRS. It is presented to an individual who has made significant contributions to the field of sleep medicine and/or sleep and circadian science by increasing diversity in the field, developing targeted educational programs or working to reduce sleep health disparities. The recipients are recognized at the AASM annual membership meeting in June.

2024 Michael A. Grandner, PhD

2023 Dayna Johnson, PhD

2022  Girardin Jean-Louis, PhD and Chandra Jackson, PhD

2021 Charlene Gamaldo, MD

AASM Foundation Award

The Sleep Champion Award was created in 2019 to honor non-profit organizations that are leading such endeavors locally, nationally, or worldwide. The Sleep Champion Award celebrates successful community-based sleep health services and education provided by non-profit organizations.

2024 World Sleep Academy

2023 Save Standard Time

2022 The Hypersomnia Foundation

2021 Start School Later

2020 Sweet Dreamzzz, Inc.