2018 Awards

 

PETER HAURI CAREER DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The Peter Hauri Career Distinguished Achievement Award is awarded to a member of SBSM who has made significant, sustained scientific contributions to behavioral sleep medicine or who has made significant, sustained clinical contributions to behavioral sleep medicine as exemplified by innovations in service delivery, dissemination, and public policy.

 Recipient – Michael Perlis, PhD

Michael’s scientific contributions in behavioral sleep medicine have often been foundational. I will only list a few, here. He was the first to propose the neurocognitive model of insomnia as a means to unify the daytime and nocturnal cognitive experiences of insomnia and help address the perplexing objective-subjective discrepancy related to cognitive function in insomnia. He followed this up with a series of data and review articles investigating hyperarousal in insomnia, several of which have been cited over 100 times each. Michael’s original ideas also led to a series of studies conducted by multiple labs to better characterize and explain the neuropathology underpinning insomnia.

Michael has also made seminal contributions in the area of insomnia and depression. Michael’s 1997 paper showing that sleep was the earliest symptom of depression to elevate prior to a relapse helped solidify the causal role of insomnia in depression.

A third example of Michael’s scientific influence has been in understanding the efficacy of CBT for Insomnia. He has written several articles showing CBT-I to be equally or more efficacious than medications, including one of the earliest and best cited meta-analyses on the topic. In doing so, he has contributed substantially to the clear and universally accepted idea that CBT-I is the front-line treatment for insomnia. 

There are multiple generations of scientists and clinicians who have benefited from his mentoring, and his mentees have gone on to make significant contributions to the field.

EARLY CAREER DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 

Recipient: Sheila Garland PhD

The Arthur J. Spielman Early Career Distinguished Achievement Award is awarded to a member who has made significant scientific or clinical contributions to behavioral sleep medicine as exemplified by innovations in service delivery, dissemination, and public policy.

Dr Garland is in her third year as an Assistant Professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland after having completed a 3-year post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania and graduating from the doctoral program in clinical psychology at the University of Calgary. 

She has worked diligently to build a solid program of research in the area of behavioral sleep medicine with a particular focus on understanding and treating sleep disturbances in individuals diagnosed with cancer. Since starting her academic position at Memorial University, Sheila founded the Sleep, Health, & Wellness Laboratory.

Dr Garland was awarded a PCORI grant to fund a comparative effectiveness trial comparing acupuncture to CBT-I for insomnia in cancer survivors. 

STUDENT DISSERTATION AND THESIS AWARD

Recipient:   Spencer Dawson PhD

The Student Dissertation and Thesis Award is awarded to a student member who has provided evidence of outstanding work on his or her thesis or dissertation project by summarizing the theoretical background supporting the project, the methodological rigor, and the significance of the findings to the field of BSM.

Spencer’s research interests focus on translational science that has the potential to improve our understanding of and treatment of insomnia and sleep disorders.  His Master’s study was an analysis of an intervention trial for the Treatment of Insomnia in the Context of Comorbid Sleep Disturbance using CBTI.  He conducted a comprehensive analysis of an existing dataset from a study conducted by his mentor, Dick Bootzin.  His dissertation research, that he successfully defended last year, was a project he designed from the ground up, using diverse measures including self-report, interview, psychophysiological responses, and polysomnography, to assess empirically the relationship between arousal and sleep misperception.  His research thus integrates easily with this RDoC paradigm and should place Spencer in a strong position to compete for NIMH funding to continue this line of research in the future.  Dr Dawson currently is completing his post-doctoral training at Northwestern University with Dr Ong.

2017 Awards

PETER HAURI CAREER DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 

The Peter Hauri Career Distinguished Achievement Award is awarded to a member of SBSM who has made significant, sustained scientific contributions to behavioral sleep medicine or who has made significant, sustained clinical contributions to behavioral sleep medicine as exemplified by innovations in service delivery, dissemination, and public policy.

Recipient: Kenneth Lichstein PhD

Dr Lichstein is one of the world leaders in research relating to behavioral sleep medicine. His program of research extends over a period of more than 30 years during which time his research output has been both prolific and of the very highest quality. He is not only an international leader, but he has independently shaped the field in very important ways. For example, he was a (or the) main driver for the flagship journal in our field. He has an outstanding track record of building and maintaining a world-class research groups that has attracted research and infrastructure funding. Importantly, Dr Lichstein is an excellent mentor who has successfully mentored countless PhDs, many of whom have become highly successful contributors to the field. He is committed to developing their knowledge and expertise and to facilitating them as they establish independent research careers. These individuals are already making important contributions to the field and are surfacing as internationally recognized leaders in their own right.   Dr Lichstein continues to support the SBSM as Director at Large on the Board of Directors and will serve as the board liaison to the new Credentials Committee.

 

EARLY CAREER DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The Art Spielmann Early Career Distinguished Achievement Award is awarded to a member who has made significant scientific or clinical contributions to behavioral sleep medicine as exemplified by innovations in service delivery, dissemination, and public policy.

Recipient:   Michael Nadorff, Ph.D.

Michael is Assistant Professor and Director of Clinical Training at Mississippi State University.  He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from West Virginia University in 2012.  His research program focuses on the impact of insomnia symptoms and nightmares on suicidal behavior across the lifespan. 

 

STUDENT DISSERTATION AND THESIS AWARD

The Student Dissertation and Thesis Award is awarded to a student member who has provided evidence of outstanding work on his or her thesis or dissertation project by summarizing the theoretical background supporting the project, the methodological rigor, and the significance of the findings to the field of BSM.

Recipient: Jennifer Cowie MA

Jennifer successfully defended her dissertation proposal titled, “Does post-exposure napping augment fear reduction in dog phobic children?” in June of 2016. This novel study is ongoing and represents Jennifer’s independent idea and project.  Candice Alfano, Director of the Sleep and Anxiety Center of Houston has been Jennifer’s mentor for the past five years.  This project is the first of its kind (that we are aware of) in a clinical child sample and will make a significant contribution to the research literature.

2016 Awards

Each year the SBSM is honored to acknowledge individuals, who have made outstanding contributions to the field of Behavioral Sleep Medicine.

Peter Hauri Career Distinguished Achievement Award

Awarded to Candice Alfano, PhD

The Peter Hauri Career Distinguished Achievement Award is awarded to a member of SBSM, who has made significant, sustained scientific contributions to behavioral sleep medicine or who has made significant, sustained clinical contributions to behavioral sleep medicine as exemplified by innovations in service delivery, dissemination, and public policy. This year Candice Alfano, PhD was honored with this award.

Candice Alfano, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Psychology, Director of the Sleep and Anxiety Center of Houston (SACH)at the University of Houston, and a licensed clinical psychologist. She has been conducting sleep-focused research and providing evidence-based treatment for behavioral sleep disorders for more than a decade.

In her current role as Director of SACH, Dr. Alfano provides hands-on training to post- doctoral fellows, doctoral students, and undergraduates in sleep medicine through both the provision of evidence-based clinical services and participation in large research projects.

Dr. Alfano has published over 60 empirical papers, articles, books chapters, and books to date, many of which provide important scientific contribution to the field of sleep medicine. Recent work has focused on sleep and emotional outcomes more broadly, including a recent comprehensive review paper that utilized an organizing, theoretical framework for better understanding the impact of sleep disruption on various aspects of emotional experience (Palmer & Alfano, 2016).

Early Career Distinguished Achievement Award

Awarded to Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, PhD

The Early Career Distinguished Achievement Award is awarded to a member who has made significant scientific or clinical contributions to behavioral sleep medicine as exemplified by innovations in service delivery, dissemination, and public policy. This year the award was presented to Julio Fernandez-Mendoza PhD.

Dr. Julio Fernandez-Mendoza pursued his postdoctoral fellowship at the Sleep Research & Treatment Center (SRTC) at Penn State and currently serves as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychologist in the Division of Sleep Medicine.

He has been involved in groundbreaking research projects investigating the impact of disturbed sleep on the development of adverse health outcomes. Many of his studies have involved the Penn State Adult Cohort and the Penn State Child Cohort (PSCC), two of the most detailed population- based, random samples in the sleep field.

Dr. Fernandez-Mendoza currently serves as Principal Investigator in a study funded by the American Heart Association that bridges three areas traditionally kept in disconnect: sleep, cardiovascular, and cognitive health and is a key investigator in an ongoing pilot clinical trial comparing the efficacy of cognitive behavioral treatment of insomnia (CBT-I) vs. a sedative anti-depressant (trazodone) and its effects on cardiometabolic outcomes.

Student Dissertation and Thesis Award

Awarded to Wai Sze Chan, PhD

The Student Dissertation and Thesis Award is awarded to a student member who has provided evidence of outstanding work on his or her thesis or dissertation project by summarizing the theoretical background supporting the project, the methodological rigor, and the significance of the findings to the field of BSM. 

Dr Wai Szw (Trista) Chan is a postdoctoral Fellow with the Department of Health Psychology in the School of Health Professions at the University of Missouri.

As a graduate student at Indiana University, Dr Trista Chan’s programmatic interest focuses on eating problems in relation to sleep deficits and self-regulation deficits. She systematically addressed questions about eating problems in relation to sleep deficits and individual differences in reward sensitivity. Both chronic sleep deficits and overeating are at epidemic levels in American society.

Dr Chan is pursuing this topic in her postdoctoral fellowship, which further increases the likelihood that she will have an outstanding career as a clinical scientist, with major contributions especially in the areas of sleep and eating.

2015 Awards

Early Career Distinguished Achievement

Awarded to a member of SBSM who is less than 8 years post PhD/MD degree and who has made significant scientific contributions to behavioral sleep medicine or who has made significant clinical contributions to behavioral sleep medicine as exemplified by innovations in service delivery, dissemination, and public policy.

Awarded to Sarah Honaker, PhD, HSPP, CBSM - Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN

Dr. Sarah Honaker is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Currently, she works with children and families at the Riley Sleep Disorders Center, and conducts research on incorporating behavioral sleep into pediatric primary care. While her current position includes both a research and clinical focus, her previous work at The University of Louisville School of Medicine was almost solely focused on clinical care. As such, her primary contributions to date, have been in the area of clinical care and education.

SBSM Student Dissertation and Thesis Award

The Student Dissertation and Thesis Award is awarded to a student member who has provided evidence of outstanding work on his or her thesis or dissertation project by summarizing the theoretical background supporting the project, the methodological rigor, and the significance of the findings to the field of BSM.

Awarded to Jessica Dietch MS at University of North Texas

Jessica Dietch is currently a graduate student at the University of North Texas and received a Bachelor of Arts from Chapman University. Jessica’s clinical experiences include working with children, college students, and adults covering a wide range of sleep related topics. Jessica was a student member on 2013-2014 SBSM Board of Directors and is currently serving as a valued member of the SBSM Accreditation Committee.

 

APSS First Time Travel Award

Awarded to Cynthia Fellman-Couture, RN, BSN, PhD - Henry Ford Sleep Center, Detroit, MI 
Awarded to Scott Rower, PhD - Portland Psychotherapy, Portland, OR

Awarded to individuals in the first or second year of SBSM membership (full membership only, students are not eligible) who attended APSS for the first time. First time travel awardees were required to attend a BSM postgrad workshop at APSS and received a $500 award to help offset the traveling expense of attending.

2014 Awards

Peter Hauri Career Distinguished Achievement Award

Awarded to Arthur J. Spielman, Ph.D.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is to acknowledge nominees who have distinguished themselves based on professional productivity and demonstrated leadership in the sleep medicine and/or sleep research fields.

Arthur J. Spielman, Ph.D. is currently a Professor of Psychology at The City College of the City University of New York (CUNY) in the Cognitive Neuroscience doctoral subprogram. In addition, he is an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychology in Neurology at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York where he serves as a Co-Director, with Ana Krieger, of the Center for Sleep Medicine. Professor Spielman received his PhD in clinical psychology at CUNY and has a subspecialty in Sleep Medicine. He is a diplomate, American Board of Sleep Medicine (ABSM; certificate #26), and certified in Behavioral Sleep Medicine (certificate #3), American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). He was on the committees that constructed the exams for these specialty qualifications. He was a founding staff member, and later the Co-Director, of the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center at Montefiore Hospital, Bronx, New York, which was the first Sleep Disorders Center certified in the United States by the Association of Sleep Disorders Centers in 1977. He also worked in the Laboratory of Chronobiology at Montefiore under the direction of Elliot Weitzman and Charles Czeisler.

Professor Spielman has served on ten NIH review committees, was on the Board of Directors of both the AASM as well as the ABSM. He has participated with his colleagues on the editorial boards of the journals Sleep and Journal of Behavioral Sleep Medicine and on task forces and committees such as fellowship training, individual and center accreditation, examination, nosology, and non-pharmacological treatment of insomnia. He was the chair of the Institutional Review Board at City College for 15 years. Professor Spielman has received a number of awards including the Distinguished Service Award, AASM and the Helmut Schmidt Award, ABSM.

Professor Spielman has published on a wide range of sleep disorders topics with a primary focus on insomnia assessment and treatment. He co-authored a popular book on insomnia with the senior author and long time collaborator Paul Glovinsky (The Insomnia Answer, 2006). He devised a popular model of insomnia (called the 3P model which stands for Predisposing, Precipitating and Perpetuating Factors, 1986, and with colleagues in 1987) and on a widely used treatment for insomnia called Sleep Restriction Therapy (with colleagues in 1987). Ongoing work includes validation of consumer sleep monitoring devices, tongue strengthening for snoring and sleep apnea and a theoretical paper on the function of REM sleep.  

 

Young Investigator Award

Awarded to Dr. Kelly Baron

The Young Investigator Award is awarded to a member who has made significant scientific contributions to behavioral sleep medicine or who has made significant clinical contributions to behavioral sleep medicine as exemplified by innovations in service delivery, dissemination, and public policy.

Dr. Kelly Baron is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. Dr. Baron’s research interests include the role of circadian timing and alignment in obesity risk, use of exercise in the treatment of sleep disorders and treatment of comorbid insomnia and circadian rhythm sleep disorders. The emphasis of her research is to determine the biological and behavior links between circadian alignment and weight regulation and then translate her findings to the clinical setting in novel weight loss interventions. Dr. Baron is also founder and director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at Northwestern, where she mentors clinical psychology graduate students and sleep medicine fellows and provides Behavioral Sleep Medicine interventions in a multidisciplinary setting. 

 

Student Dissertation and Thesis Award

Awarded to Ali Wilkerson

The Student Dissertation and Thesis Award is awarded to a student member who has displayed outstanding work meeting the criteria of theoretical background supporting the project, methodological rigor, and significance of the findings to the field of BSM.

Ali Wilkerson is a Licensed Psychological Associate and a graduate student in the Clinical Health Psychology program at University of North Texas. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Texas A&M University and a Masters of Education from the University of North Texas. She recently completed her fourth year of doctoral training, and in August she will begin the Charleston Consortium Psychology Internship at Medical University of South Carolina and VA Medical Center. Ali’s research focuses on the impact of sleep disturbance on daytime performance, particularly in the perinatal period. She is currently completing her dissertation, examining sleep fragmentation and neurobehavioral functioning in the transition from late pregnancy to early postpartum.

 

SBSM Merit Awards

The SBSM Merit Awards recognized outstanding research of clinical presentation in behavioral sleep medicine at the SLEEP 2014 meeting. The awards were based on 2 award categories; Oral Presentation of a Poster and Symposium, Clinical Workshop, and Discussion Groups.

1. The first recipient is Dr. Christina McCrae for her team’s submission of “Neuroplasticity in Comorbid Chronic Pain and Chronic Insomnia: Impact of Improved Sleep on Central Sensitization”.
2. The second recipient is Dr. Rebecca Bernert and Dr. Vaughn McCall (SBSM Member) for their team’s submission of “Disturbed Sleep as a Suicide Risk Factor and Novel Treatment Target: An Opportunity for Prevention”.
3. The third recipient is Dr. Kelly Baron, for her team’s submission of “Exercise as a Behavioral Sleep Medicine Intervention”.
4. The final recipient is Dr. Daniel Taylor for his team’s submission of “Cognitive and Behavioral Interventions for Insomnia in Military Populations”.

 

2013 Awards

Peter Hauri Career Distinguished Achievement Award 

Awarded to Don Posner, PhD, CBSM 

Dr. Posner is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University. He is the Director of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for the Department of Psychiatry at Rhode Island and Miriam Hospitals, and also the Director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program for the Sleep Disorders Center of Lifespan Hospitals in Providence Rhode Island. He has been actively engaged in the treatment of sleep-disordered patients for the past twenty-five years. For twenty of those years he has served as the lead supervisor and mentor for a sleep medicine rotation in the behavioral medicine track of the Brown clinical psychology internship. He also mentors post-doctoral fellows and lectures on Behavioral Sleep Medicine and Anxiety Disorders to interns, fellows, and residents in internal medicine and psychiatry. In addition, he is currently a consultant for the Veteran's Administration roll out of CBT-I and is training VA clinicians across the country in the implementation of this treatment.

Dr. Posner is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and is one of the first certified behavioral sleep medicine specialists recognized by that group. He is also a founding member of the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine. Dr. Posner is a co-author on the Cognitive Behavioral Treatment of Insomnia: A Session by Session Guide (2005/2008).

 

Early Career Distinguished Achievement Award

Awarded to Michael Grandner, PhD

Dr. Grandner is an Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry and Member of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Grandner' s research interests include (1) adverse cardiovascular, metabolic, and behavioral health outcomes associated with short sleep and/or insufficient sleep, (2) biopsychosocial determinants of short sleep, insufficient sleep, and poor sleep quality, and (3) behavioral interventions for sleep as a domain of health behavior. In summary, his research aims to better understand the downstream adverse outcomes of insufficient or poor quality sleep, the upstream determinants of sleep and sleep behaviors, and how knowledge of sleep determinants can inform behavioral interventions for adverse outcomes. 

 

Student Dissertation and Thesis Award

Awarded to Denise Jarrin, PhD

Denise C. Jarrin received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Concordia University in August 2012. Her doctoral dissertation was comprised of four studies that examined one possible pathogenic pathway in which poor sleep contributes to the etiology of childhood obesity. She is trained in psychophysiology, specifically on autonomic dysfunction as measured by heart rate variability. She is also a co-investigator on a Canadian Institute of Health Research grant investigating the pathways between sleep and childhood obesity totaling over $4 million. Dr. Jarrin has been awarded numerous fellowships from both federal and provincial agencies for her excellence as a graduate student. Her interests in sleep have expanded to include socioeconomic status, and based on scientific merit and relevance was the recipient of the 2012 American Academy of Sleep Medicine Young Investigator Award. More recently, she was awarded the prestigious Canadian Institute of Health Research Post-doctoral Fellowship to examine the pathogenic association between autonomic dysfunction and insomnia. Currently, she is a post-doctoral fellow at Université Laval under the mentorship of Dr. Charles Morin.

Travel Awards

2019 SBSM Travel Award WInners

Alicia Chung, PhD

As a recipient of the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine (SBSM) Travel Award, I am able to network with leading researchers in the area of pediatric sleep health that will allow me to broaden my collaborations in the spirit of team science. The meeting was an invaluable opportunity to receive direct feedback from NIH officers on grant submission ideas, brainstorm research ideas with colleagues, and learn about the latest in sleep health technology. Most importantly, special thank you to my fellow panelist Dr. Alcantara, Dr. Williams and Mrs. Aird for the opportunity to share our work on the importance of sleep research in the community, and close the gap on sleep health disparities among people of color. The SBSM conference was the perfect size to foster interpersonal relationship building and develop collegial bonds.

Dr. Chung has extensive training in public health and health education with her BA/MPH from Tufts University and Doctorate of Education from Columbia University. She is published in several high-impact peer-reviewed journals, to share the significance of her work with the scientific community.  

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MARRISA BOWMAN, PHD

I was honored to receive a trainee travel award to attend the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine’s Conference in Birmingham, Alabama. At this conference, I had the opportunity to chair and present in a symposium titled, “Sleep interventions for racial/ethnic health disparities.” I was excited to present to this unique audience of clinically-oriented sleep researchers and sleep medicine clinicians, and I was pleased to see that there were other symposia with a focus on the role of racial/ethnic diversity in our research and clinical work.

At the SBSM conference in Birmingham, I especially enjoyed the symposium on “insomnia identity” with speakers Kenny Lichstein, Jessee Dietch, Michael Perlis, and Dan Buysse. They focused on subjective-objective sleep discrepancy, e.g. individuals with insomnia identity but have good polysomnography-assessed sleep, or individuals who deny sleep problems but have poor polysomnography-assessed sleep.

Across several datasets, approximately 40% of the sample experienced a discrepancy between their subjective and objective sleep. Michael Perlis proffered that perhaps this seeming discrepancy is due to a difference in sleep need among these groups. Dan Buysse presented data showing that there were neurophysiological differences during NREM sleep that may explain the subjective-objective sleep discrepancy.

I have spent some time in my own research work interpreting results that are inconsistent across sleep assessment methods. I believe that subjective and objective sleep measures may differ because they capture fundamentally different constructs. While subjective assessments involve the individual's perception of their habitual sleep pattern in their usual sleep environment, polysomnography is assessed for a limited number of nights in a novel environment.

Thank you for the opportunity to attend this meeting. I hope to see you all next year at the SBSM meeting in Nashville!

 

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Allyson Gilles, PhD

Attending the first annual SBSM scientific conference was an unparalleled opportunity to become immersed in the world of behavioral sleep medicine, as well as understand its impact on population health through a variety of topics and through the honed lenses of renowned scientists. The well-regarded speakers brought forth a “call to arms” for the SBSM community to join together in addressing important areas of research and clinical practice. 

Such areas include examining the:

• objective effects of CBTi;
• intersection of sleep ability, sleep opportunity, and sleep need in patients;
• role of network dysregulation across the wake-sleep state in insomnia;
• supply and demand imbalance of CBTi providers;
• development of CBT- circadian insomnia subtypes;
• importance of building a reviewer pool of experts in Behavioral Sleep Medicine;
• importance of embracing diverse and collaborative relationships to create translational science that is standardized; and
• need to advocate for untapped research funding as a professional community by connecting to other areas of science.

Not only did I learn about the current state of behavioral sleep medicine from a variety of perspectives, but I was able to glimpse a future that the leaders and experts envision for SBSM as a scientific community. Imagining where I fit with this future vision and how I could contribute in a meaningful way had a great impact on me. As the importance of the SBSM conference was clear, I embraced the networking and collaborative opportunities amongst colleagues.

Meeting individuals and making connections was enjoyable, as the conference atmosphere was relaxed and the shared camaraderie was evident.

 

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Alicia Roth, PhD

As the SBSM celebrated its 10th anniversary at the SBSM Scientific Meeting, I realized I am also celebrating my 10th anniversary in behavioral sleep medicine.

In 2009, I was the clinical trial coordinator for a small RCT examining trazodone’s effects on sleep and cognition. I had recently graduated with a Master’s degree in experimental psychology, and had zero knowledge of sleep. But I was the only staff member for the study, so I had to catch up quickly on PSGs, MSLTs, sleep diaries, pharmacology, and the ins-and-outs of the sleep literature. Knowledge and sleep deprivation ensued.

The PI of the study brought me to Sleep in 2009. Michael Perlis presented about the future of behavioral sleep medicine, in which he said (possibly yelled) “We need to build the sleep psychology army!” I leaned over to my boss and whispered, “I wanna be part of the army.”

10 years, a Ph.D., and a lot of coffee, rejected manuscripts, and CBTI cases later, I am part of the Sleep Army. And this year’s SBSM Scientific Meeting validated my continued excitement and commitment to BSM. The SBSM Student Travel Award also allowed me to attend the additional DBSM prep course. I've never been more excited to study for an exam.

A particularly special aspect of the SBSM meeting was reconvening the group of BSM colleagues that I “grew up” with in grad school. We all saw each other once a year at Sleep, which we dubbed the “family reunion.” We started together as baby trainees from different programs, having large group dinners, discussing our latest research, and filling each other in on what’s next – practicuum, internship, post-doc, and faculty positions. And now we are SBSM committee members, speakers at the Scientific Meeting, published authors, awesome clinicians, and on the cusp of taking the DBSM. We are the Sleep Army the SBSM founders envisioned (I hope!) when they dedicated themselves to this society 10 years ago.

As an attendee, presenter, DBSM prepper, networker, resort pool aficionado, and too-excited enthusiast of all things sleep, thank you to the SBSM for an amazing meeting – and continuing to thrive!