The AASM Foundation is proud to introduce the recipients of the 2026 Research Mentor Award, a new initiative established to support our goal of advancing sleep science and fostering the next generation of sleep and circadian researchers. This award recognizes exemplary leaders for their commitment to mentoring early career investigators, including undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral trainees, and junior faculty in sleep and circadian science. We are pleased to announce this year’s awardees and extend our gratitude for their dedication to nurturing future leaders in our field.
Each award recipient will receive $500 and be recognized during a special event at SLEEP 2026.
Indu Ayappa, PhD
Dr. Indu Ayappa is a Professor of Medicine and Director of the David M. Rapoport, MD Sleep and Respiratory Research Program in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr Ayappa’s research focuses on understanding the pathophysiology of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), developing diagnostic tools and treatments for OSA and elucidating mechanisms that underlie differential outcomes in OSA. She credits her success in mentoring to (i) exceptional life-long exemplary mentorship in her own career, (ii) protected time and resources for trainee career development provided by National Institutes of Health (NIH) and foundation support, and (iii) a dedicated group of outstanding mentees with a commitment to sleep research.
Christina McCrae, PhD
Dr. Christina McCrae is a Professor and Assistant Dean of Research at the University of South Florida College of Nursing where she directs the McCrae Sleep Research Lab and the newly founded Sleep and Health Innovation in Neurobehavioral (SHINE) Science Center. Her research examines sleep and the biopsychosocial and neurocognitive mechanisms underlying chronic insomnia and comorbid medical conditions across the lifespan, as well as the impact of cognitive behavioral treatments on these mechanisms. Dr. McCrae has mentored hundreds of trainees across disciplines including psychology, nursing, medicine, nutrition, and social work and spanning undergraduate students through junior faculty. Her mentees have earned numerous national and international research awards and fellowships, secured competitive research funding, and obtained faculty positions at research-intensive institutions across the United States and internationally.
Wilfred R. Pigeon, PhD
Dr. Wilfred Pigeon is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center where he directs the Sleep and Neurophysiology Research Lab. His research focuses largely on developing, adapting and sequencing behavioral interventions for insomnia that co-occurs with other conditions. With his team at the Department of Veterans Affairs Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, which he directed for some years, he produced several seminal publications and programs related to sleep and suicide. He trains and develops training programs for cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia both locally and nationally. Dr. Pigeon has happily mentored trainees from undergraduates to post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty, many of whom now direct their own labs and training programs. He remains grateful for the mentoring he received from Michael Sateia, MD and Tom Mellman, MD at the Dartmouth Sleep Disorders Center and subsequently from Michael Perlis, PhD and Jan Moynihan, PhD at Rochester.
