Intriguing Keynote Address, Awards Open SLEEP 2008

The SLEEP 2008 plenary session was a successful beginning to the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC. The session featured an intriguing keynote address from Dr. J. Allan Hobson on “Sleep, Dreaming and Consciousness – A New Paradigm.” Hobson is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass.

After Program Committee Chair Dr. Michael Vitiello opened the plenary session, Sleep Research Society President Dr. Eric Nofzinger came forward to present the 2008 SRS Awards. Dr. Charles Czeisler of Harvard Medical School received the Distinguished Scientist Award for his studies of circadian timing and the sleep-wake cycle.

The Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award went to three men who played a critical role in the discovery of the suprachiasmatic nucleus as circadian pacemaker: Dr. Robert Moore of the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Irving Zucker of the University of California-Berkley, and Dr. Friedrich Stephan of Florida State University.

Nofzinger then presented the Mary A. Carskadon Outstanding Educator Award to Dr. Richard Bootzin of the University of Arizona, a pioneer of the behavioral treatment of insomnia.

American Academy of Sleep Medicine President Dr. Alex Chediak followed with a presentation of the 2008 AASM Awards. The Nathaniel Kleitman Distinguished Service Award went to Dr. Conrad Iber of the University of Minnesota for his many contributions to the AASM.

For the next presentation, Dr. Chediak deferred to Dr. William Dement, namesake of the William C. Dement Academic Achievement Award. Dement presented the award to his friend and colleague Dr. Terry Young of the University of Wisconsin-Madison for her work on the landmark Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study.

Chediak then returned to present the Mark O. Hatfield Public Policy Award to Dr. Neil Kavey of Columbia University, longtime president of the New York State Society of Sleep Medicine.

Following the awards ceremonies was a presentation by Dr. James Kiley, Director of the Division of Lung Diseases in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute within the National Institutes of Health. He spoke about the NHLBI strategic plan.

Hobson concluded the plenary session with his keynote address.