DARIEN, IL – Five individuals have been selected as the 2023 American Academy of Sleep Medicine award recipients for their outstanding contributions to the field of sleep medicine. They will be recognized Monday, June 5, during the plenary session of the SLEEP 2023 annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Indianapolis.
“I congratulate this year’s award recipients, who embody the AASM mission of advancing sleep care and enhancing sleep health to improve lives,” said AASM President Jennifer Martin. “Their commitment to excellence in leadership, education, research, and advocacy is an inspiration to all who share our vision that sleep is recognized as essential to health.”
The 2023 AASM award recipients were nominated by a colleague, recommended by the Awards Advisory Panel, and approved by the board of directors.
Timothy Morgenthaler, M.D.
Nathaniel Kleitman Distinguished Service Award for dedication to the sleep field and significant contributions to sleep medicine
Dr. Morgenthaler was the 2014 – 2015 president of the AASM and served as a director of both the AASM Foundation and the American Board of Sleep Medicine. He was a longtime member and chair of the Standards of Practice Committee, contributing to the AASM’s development of evidence-based practice standards for the diagnosis and management of sleep disorders. Morgenthaler also led the AASM’s initiative to develop quality measures for sleep medicine by serving as chair of the Quality Measures Task Force and lead author of the paper, “Measurement of Quality to Improve Care in Sleep Medicine.” He also was chair of the Surveillance and Epidemiology Workgroup for the National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project, a five-year initiative led by the AASM in collaboration with the Sleep Research Society and other partners.
Morgenthaler is the director of the Center for Sleep Medicine and the enterprise director of the Sleep Medicine Specialty Council for Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he is a professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. He has responsibilities in health care quality leadership for the Mayo Clinic, currently acting as vice chair for quality and previously serving as chief patient safety officer.
Mary Carskadon, Ph.D.
William C. Dement Academic Achievement Award for exceptional initiative and progress in the areas of sleep education and academic research
Carskadon serves as director of the Chronobiology and Sleep Research Laboratory at Bradley Hospital and is a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Her early research with her graduate mentor and founding president of the AASM, Dr. William C. Dement, culminated in the development and application of a standardized measure for daytime sleep tendency, the multiple sleep latency test. Throughout her career, Carskadon’s research also has examined interrelations between the circadian timing system and the sleep and wake patterns of children, adolescents, and young adults.
Ronald Chervin, M.D., M.S.
Excellence in Education Award for outstanding contributions in the teaching of sleep medicine
Dr. Chervin is a professor of neurology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he holds the Michael S. Aldrich Collegiate Professorship in Sleep Medicine and leads the division of sleep medicine. He helped develop a large, highly multidisciplinary sleep program, and his research, funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1997, has addressed a wide range of issues across the lifespan. Chervin has been involved in training and mentorship of junior faculty, more than 150 clinical sleep medicine fellows, dozens of sleep research fellows, and many residents and students.
Karin Johnson, M.D., and Jay Pea
Mark O. Hatfield Public Policy or Advocacy Award for developing public policy that positively affects the healthy sleep of all Americans
Dr. Johnson is a professor in both the department of neurology and the department of healthcare delivery and population science at UMass Chan School of Medicine-Baystate in Springfield, Massachusetts, where she is also the vice chair of academic affairs in the department of neurology. She is also the vice president of Save Standard Time, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, donor-funded, volunteer-run effort to preserve and extend the observation of longitudinally correct standard time.
Mr. Pea is a software engineer and graphic designer turned nonprofit administrator working in support of permanent standard time as the founder and president of Save Standard Time. He comes to this advocacy as an amateur astronomer and great-grandson of farmers who learned from an early age to tell time by the position of the sun, moon, and stars. Originally from rural Iowa, he now lives in greater Phoenix.
More information about the AASM awards is available online.
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Photos are available upon request. For more information, please contact the AASM at 630-737-9700 or media@aasm.org.
About the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Established in 1975, the AASM advances sleep care and enhances sleep health to improve lives. The AASM has a combined membership of 12,000 accredited sleep centers and individuals, including physicians, scientists and other health care professionals who care for patients with sleep disorders. As the leader in the sleep field, the AASM sets standards and promotes excellence in sleep medicine health care, education and research.
