Professor Sona Nevsimalova has devoted the greatest part of her life to sleep medicine. She has published over 200 scientific papers, 5 monographs and 30 monographic chapters. Her main interest is focused on narcolepsy and childhood sleep disorders. She received many scientific awards (including one from the American Academy of Neurology) and honorary prizes for her research, and participated in the Scientific Committees of the ESRS and WASM. At present, she is the Vice-President of the Czech Sleep Society, and President of the Czech Society of Child Neurology. She has organized several International Congresses, the main organizing effort is now focused on the World Sleep 2017 to be held in Prague.

insomnia

Dr. Hall’s research bridges two traditionally independent fields, biobehavioral medicine and sleep medicine. Biobehavioral medicine research has made important discoveries regarding the pathways through which psychological, social and environmental factors influence health and functioning. Yet, until recently, this research has focused almost exclusively on factors measured during wakefulness. Similarly, sleep research has not systematically considered the influence of psychosocial or environmental factors on normal sleep or on the pathogenesis and clinical course of primary sleep disorders. Dr. Hall’s biobehavioral sleep medicine research program integrates theoretical concepts and methods from both fields in order to address fundamental questions about the pathways through which psychological and social factors affect sleep and their downstream consequences to health and functioning, with an emphasis on cardiometabolic disease risk. She has evaluated these relationships in diverse populations including healthy and depressed children, adolescents, adults, and elders; caregiver populations; health care workers; women during the menopausal transition; adults with bereavement-related depression; and veterans. Dr. Hall has used an array of study designs including experimental laboratory studies; cross-sectional and longitudinal naturalistic studies; and, most recently, intervention research, with a focus on modeling causal mechanisms. During the course of this research, she has developed innovative methods for enhancing the ecological validity and reliability of sleep studies and the assessment of nocturnal physiology during sleep. She is an internationally-recognized expert on the stress-sleep relationship and the use of heart rate variability as a continuous and non-invasive tool for assessing autonomic tone during sleep and in relation to health and functioning. Currently, Dr. Hall’s two main projects are focused on (1) sleep’s role in the prospective link between major depression and cardiovascular disease, and (2) the impact of psychological stress on the neurobiology of insomnia. She is a widely-sought mentor and educator. A member of the graduate training faculty in the School of Medicine and the Department of Psychology, Dr. Hall has trained and mentored undergraduate, graduate and medical students, post-doctoral fellows, and junior faculty in diverse components of clinical and translational sleep medicine, with an emphasis on the sleep-health relationship.

sleep disorders,insomnia,pediatric sleep medicine

Sonia Ancoli-Israel, Ph.D. is a Professor Emeritus and Professor of Research in the Departments of Psychiatry and Medicine at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, Director of the Gillin Sleep and Chronomedicine Research Center, and Director of Education at the Sleep Medicine Center at UCSD. Dr. Ancoli-Israel received her Bachelor’s Degree from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, a Master’s Degree in Psychology from California State University, Long Beach and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Ancoli-Israel’s expertise is in the field of sleep disorders and sleep research in aging. Her current interests include the longitudinal effect of sleep disorders on aging, the effect of circadian rhythms on sleep, therapeutic interventions for sleep problems in dementia, and fatigue, particularly the relationship between sleep, fatigue and circadian rhythms in cancer and other chronic illnesses. Dr. Ancoli-Israel is Past-President of the Sleep Research Society (SRS), Past-President of the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms, and was on the founding Executive Board of the National Sleep Foundation. She was honored in 2007 with the National Sleep Foundation Life Time Achievement Award and the SRS Mary A. Carskadon Outstanding Educator Award, in 2012 with Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine Distinguished Career Award and in 2014 with the SRS Distinguished Scientist Award. Dr. Ancoli-Israel is published regularly in medical and psychiatric journals with over 400 publications in the field.

Sleep disorders

Dr Markström is since 2009 working as an Associate Professor and Senior Consultant at the Centre of Sleep and Breathing at Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden. She works full time with taking care of diagnostics in persons with insomnia, parasomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, hypersomnia, narcolepsy and people with breathing sleep disorders. She works as a consultant at the Department of Women's and Children's Health at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden and is a national expert in initiating CPAP and home mechanical ventilation in children. Her research interests lie in the fields of sleep, particularly in the treatment of insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, concrete delayed sleep phase disorder and sleep breathing disorder. During the years 1999 to 2009 she was Head of the National Respiratory Centre, Karolinska Institutet Dr Markström got her Authorization to practice medicine (The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare) in 1985. She began her career as an Anaesthetist in 1992 and obtained a PhD in Anaesthesiology five years later. In 1995 she became a specialist in Ear, Nose and Throat Medicine at Uppsala University and she is, since 2005, an Associate Professor in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care medicine at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm Sweden.

insomnia, parasomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, hypersomnia, narcolepsy

Dr. Rosenfeld is Board Certified in Neurology and Sleep Medicine. He is currently Neurology Department Head and Medical Director of the Sleep Center at SouthCoast Health in Savannah, Georgia. He received his Medical Degree from Emory University and completed Internal Medicine at Alton Oschner Medical Foundation, followed by a Neurology Residency at University of Miami where he was Chief Resident. Dr Rosenfeld then completed a Fellowship in Electrophysiology and Critical Care Neurology at U.C.L.A. He has served as Chairman of the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at Cottage Hospital, as well as the Medical Director for Neurophysiology at Cottage Hospital and Medical Director for Sleepmed of Santa Barbara before joining SouthCoastHealth in Savannah, Georgia.

Katie L. Stone, Ph.D. is Senior Scientist at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute. As an epidemiologist with over 25 years of experience designing and directing multi-center research studies, her research is focused on the health consequences of disturbed sleep in older adults. In particular, she has published on the relationship of objective and subjective sleep disturbance and risk of falls, cognitive and functional impairment, cardiovascular disease and mortality. Dr. Stone is Principal Investigator of the Outcomes of Sleep Disorders in Older Men (MrOS Sleep) Study and the Changes in Sleep and Cognition in Older Women (SOF Sleep and Cognition) Study. Together, these projects have measured actigraphy in more than 6000 and in-home polysomnography in more than 3000 older adults. She also directs the Data Coordinating Center for the Multi-Center Trial of Limiting PGY2&3 Resident Work Hours on Patient Safety.

Dr Vural Fidan has recieved his MD and PhD in Hacettepe University. He is deputy director of ENT department. He is an Otorhinolaryngologist at Yunus Emre Goverment Hospital. He worked as a visiting scientist at Yale University ENT and Allegry departments. He has more than 20 SCI indexed articles.

Research interests are pulmonary hypertension, allergy, otology, rhinology and sleep medicine.

Maxime ElBaz is a specialist engineer in sleep technology. He holds a diploma of the School of Electrophysiology Techniques, Paris and a Diploma in Sleep Technologies from the University of Paris. He also holds a Certificate in Sleep Medicine from Stanford University, USA and an M.A. in Bioengineering from the University of Paris. He is currently undertaking a PhD in Sleep in Intensive Care Settings at the University of Paris. He is also the founder of French Society of Sleep Technicians and is President of the European Society of Sleep Technicians.

Dr. Badr is a leading, national expert in pulmonary medicine and sleep disorders. He is board certified in Pulmonary Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, Sleep Medicine and Internal Medicine. He graduated from Damascus University Medical School in Syria and completed his internship and residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. Following two fellowships at the University of Wisconsin, he was appointed to the school’s faculty. Since 1996, he has served as Director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Wayne State University and in many teaching and faculty positions at the school. He currently serves as Chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine at Harper University Hospital and as a Professor of Medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine. Dr. Badr has been the principal investigator on many grant-funded research efforts and clinical trials. He holds several patents for biomedical devices.

Lung Diseases, Pulmonary Medicine, Sleep Apnea, Sleep Medicine

Sudhansu Chokroverty, MD, FRCP, FACP, is Professor and Co-Chairman of Neurology for Clinical Neurophysiology and Sleep Medicine and Program Director of Clinical Neurophysiology and Sleep Medicine at the New Jersey Neuroscience Institute at JFK Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey. Dr. Chokroverty is also Professor of Neuroscience at Seton Hall University School of Graduate Medical Education in South Orange, New Jersey, and Clinical Professor of Neurology at Robert Wood Johnson University Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He is the author of Sleep Disorders in Medicine, 3rd Edition and a co-author of Restless Legs Syndrome and the Atlas of Sleep Medicine, 2nd Edition. Dr. Chokroverty is the Founding and Past President (two terms) of the World Association of Sleep Medicine, an international organization devoted to promoting sleep health throughout the world. Dr. Chokroverty is also the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Sleep Medicine, an international journal dealing with clinical sleep disorders. He is the co-editor of the Journal of the New Jersey Neuroscience Institute, and he has been on the editorial boards of 13 scientific journals and an ad-hoc reviewer for 28 national and international journals.

Blink reflex excitability in Restless legs Syndrome and narcolepsy-cataplexy; Neurophysiologic investigation of myoclonus and tremor; Startle reflex study in normals and RLS patients; PLMS actigraphic study correlating with overnight PSG study; Abnormal motor activities during REM sleep; Transient phenomena at sleep onset: A clinical and PSG study; Cyclic alternating pattern in the PSG, sleep apnea and CPAP titration; Actigraphic study in insomnia.

Mr. Morin joined the School of Psychology in 1994, after completing an internship in clinical psychology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (1985-86) and a postdoctoral fellowship (1986-87) at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he then worked as director of the Center for the Study of sleep disorders and professor in the Department of Psychiatry from 1987 to 1994. His research program focuses on sleep disorders and more particularly on the epidemiology, risk factors and therapeutic approaches insomnia. His work is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canada and the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States. He holds a Canada Research Chair in sleep disorders. He is associate editor of the journal Sleep and Behavioral Sleep Medicine and is part of the editorial board of several scientific journals. He was President of the Canadian Sleep Society and the Clinical Section of the Canadian Psychological Association. He heads the Centre for Study of sleep disorders and is a member of the Research Centre of the University Mental Health Institute of Quebec. It was part of a working group of the American Psychiatric Association with a mandate to revise diagnostic criteria for sleep disorders for DSM-5. Mr. Morin has received several awards for his outstanding contribution to psychology including the Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution of the American Psychological Association (1995), Christmas-Mailloux Prize Order of Psychologists of Quebec (2004) Adrien Pinard Price of Quebec Society for Research in Psychology (2006), the Donald O. Hebb Award from the Canadian Psychological Association (2009), Marcel Vincent Price Francophone Association for Knowledge (in 2012) and Glory Medal Escolle Price Great graduates Alumni Association Laval University (2014).

Clinical health psychology and behavioral medicine. Sleep, alertness and chronobiology. Special Interests: sleep disorders and more particularly insomnia (epidemiology, assessment, treatment).

Dr Krystal is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham N.C.He is also Director of the Brain Stimulation Program,Director of the Sleep Research Laboratory,the Insomnia Clinic and the Quantitative EEG Laboratory at D.U.M.C. He is an internationally-recognized expert in the areas of mood and sleep disorders. He has more than 25 years of clinical and research experience in these areas. The main foci of his work have been the development of means to improve the risk-benefit ratio of brain stimulation therapies for mood disorders and studies on the pathophysiology of treatment of sleep disorders. Dr Krystal obtained his B.S. and M.S.E. from M.I.T. followed by an M.D. from Duke University in Durham N.C.He completed his psychiatric residency at the Duke University Medical Center followed by a fellowship in sleep disorders and clinical neurophysiology. He is the recipient of several awards including the APA residents scholarship, Laughlin fellow from the American College of Psychiatrists, NARSAD Young Investigator Award, NIMH Scientist Development Award for clinicians and the APA Research Mentorship award.He currently serves as the Deputy Editor of the journal SLEEP,Chairman of the Research Committee of the Sleep Research Society,and on the Board of Directors of the International Society of ECT and Neurostimulation.

My research is focused on better understanding the pathophysiology of sleep disorders and mood disorders and developing improved treatments for these conditions. My primary research tools are: electroencepahlography (EEG), polysomnography (PSG), computer signal analysis and modeling, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and positron emission tomograophy (PET). Nearly all of my projects have been carried out with humans, however, projects are ongoing with gene knock-out models in mice, and lemurs in collaboration with the Duke Primate Center. A few representative current studies are: 1) Defining physiologic (EEG, PSG, PET, fMRI) correlates of sleep complaints and subtyping insomnia on the basis of the associated pathophysiology, 2) Studying the relationship of EEG data recorded during non-REM sleep, daytime function, and insomnia treatment response, 3) Developing new pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments for insomnia, 4) Studying the relationship of natural sleep and hibernation-like phenomena (torpor), 5) Predicting depression treatment response on the basis of pre-treatment EEG and structural MRI data.

Michael J. Breus, Ph.D., is a Clinical Psychologist and both a Diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine and a Fellow of The American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He was one of the youngest people to have passed the Board at age 31 and, with a specialty in Sleep Disorders, is one of only 163 psychologists in the world with his credentials and distinction. As the subject of sleep continues to gain momentum in our sleep-deprived society, Dr. Breus has become a widely recognized leader in this ever-evolving field. Dedicated to raising awareness of both medically diagnosed sleep disorders and the importance of quality sleep for all, Dr. Breus is on a mission to develop innovative education and communication programs. Dr. Breus has provided editorial services for numerous medical and psychology peer-reviewed journals and has given hundreds of presentations to professionals and the general public. Among his numerous national media appearances, Dr. Breus has been interviewed on CNN, Oprah, The View, and The Doctors. He also appears regularly on Dr. OZ and Sirius XM Radio.

Dr. Kathy sexton-Radek has received her Doctorate of Philosophy degree from Illinois institute of Technology in 1989 and interned at Rush Medical University 1988-1989 in Sleep Medicine, Behavioural Medicine, Geriatric Psychology and Health Psychology rotations. Currently, she is working as Professor in Elmhurst College, Psychology Department since 1988. She received her board certification in Behavioural sleep Medicine. She completed a two year post- Doctorate Certificate program in Clinical Psychopharmacology which included a year long preceptor ship with psychiatry and pulmonary medicine rotation.

Behavioral Medicine/Health Psychology, Sleep quality in young adults, Factors particular to cognitive functioning, personality style, and health practices have been examined with regard to sleep quality in emerging young adults aged 18-25 years old, Examination of the utility of conflict-resolution programming in school settings.

Harneet Walia, MD, DABSM is an Assistant Professor in the Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University (CCLCM) where she subspecializes in diagnoses and treatment of complex sleep disorders. She is a staff at the Center for Sleep Disorders in the Neurological Institute, Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Walia received her MD degree from the Kasturba Medical College, India. She completed her residency at Saint Elizabeth Health Center and fellowship training at the University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Walia's research focuses on the association of obstructive sleep apnea and cardiovascular disorders particularly resistant hypertension. She is currently involved in several clinical trials elucidating the relationship between sleep disordered breathing and resistant hypertension to devise new interventions for effective management of hypertension in this patient population. Her results have been presented nationally and have resulted in over 20 abstracts, manuscripts and book chapters. Dr. Walia serves as reviewer on multiple journals including Sleep and breathing and Journal of Clinical Sleep Research.

Circadian Rhythm Disorders, Hypersomnia, Insomnia, Narcolepsy, Rem Sleep Behavior Disorder, Restless Leg Syndrome, Sleep Apnea, Sleep Terrors, Snoring

Clinical Sleep Medicine, Narcolepsy, Restless Leg Syndrome, Insomnia, Parasomnias and Sleep Apnea.

Dr. Laxmi T Rao received her post doc from Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany in 2002. She is the Secretary of APPI Bangalore Chapter. She is also a member of Society for Neuroscience (SfN), USA. Her research concentrates on cellular mechanisms and cell damage involved in various neurological disorders. She is currently an Associate Professor in Department of Neurophysiology, NIMHANS, Bangalore.

Extinction as a Therapeutic Tool for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and for various Mood Disorders. Use of Early Maternal Separation Stress as an Animal Model to Unravel the Neural circuits and the cellular mechanisms underpinning passive (extinction) and active (emotion regulation) strategies to regulate adult behavioral changes. Pavlovian Classical Fear conditioning as an animal model. Brain plasticity mechanisms and functional recovery following ischemic injury.