Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine Awards
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.
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!
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.
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!