Please join the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Foundation in celebrating the recipients of the 2026 Trainee Investigator Award. This award program is open to students, postdoctoral researchers, residents, and other trainees presenting abstracts at the SLEEP annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS). Each abstract was reviewed by the AASM Foundation’s Research Career Development Committee, and the highest-scoring abstracts were selected for recognition.
The first-place winner received a $1,000 award, and $500 was awarded to each of the honorable mention recipients. Their abstracts will be published in the SLEEP 2026 abstract supplement. They will be recognized during the AASM Foundation Impact Mixer, held at SLEEP 2026 in Baltimore.
Trainee Investigator Award Recipient
Hnin Oo, MBBS
UConn Health
Varying Hypopnea Definitions and Missed Treatment Opportunities in Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Dr. Hnin Oo was born in Myanmar and moved to Jamaica at age 10. She entered medical school as the top matriculant at the University of the West Indies and completed her Internal Medicine residency at the Hackensack University/Englewood Hospital program. She worked as a Hospitalist/Nocturnist before pursuing fellowship training. Her research spans pulmonary rehabilitation/ chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with more recent work in obstructive sleep apnea focusing on quality improvement and health equity. She is currently a Pulmonary and Critical Care fellow at UConn Health and will begin a Sleep Medicine fellowship at Yale School of Medicine in July 2026.
Honorable Mentions
Hannah Cunningham, MS
Oregon Health and Science University
Actigraphy-measured sleep is improved after dietary supplementation in older adults with mild traumatic brain injury: A randomized clinical trial
Hannah Cunningham is a PhD Candidate in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience at Oregon Health and Science University. Her research is dedicated to understanding how sleep physiology is altered in individuals at risk for neurodegenerative diseases. She investigates the effects of various sleep-based interventions in people who have experienced traumatic brain injury, aiming to identify strategies that could mitigate sleep disturbances and cognitive decline.
“I am honored to be recognized as an award recipient from the AASM Foundation. This award not only recognizes my efforts so far but also reinforces my commitment to advancing our understanding of how sleep impacts health and well-being in patients.”
Iryna Witt, MD
University of South Florida
The Age Paradox: PAP Therapy and Depression in OSA
Dr. Iryna Witt is a 3rd year Internal Medicine resident at University of South Florida /HCA Sarasota Doctors Hospital. She is driven by curiosity about sleep’s impact on health and a passion for sharing that knowledge with others. She will continue this path as she starts her Sleep Medicine fellowship at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where she is eager to learn, grow, and one day play a small part in moving sleep medicine forward.
Sydney Johnson
University of St. Thomas
Cannabis and Alcohol Use Predicts Insomnia Symptoms and Sleep Locus of Control in College Students
Sydney Johnson is a 4th-year, first-generation undergraduate student at the University of St. Thomas psychology department. Under the mentorship of J. Roxanne Prichard, PhD, and Mari Gades, PhD, her work aims to investigate how motives for substance use influence sleep health among college students. Sydney plans to pursue graduate school for clinical psychology.
