Trainee Investigator Award

Issue Date: October 21, 2024
Nomination Due Date: December 18, 2024
Award Selection Notification: March 28, 2025
Amount of Award: $1,000 for 1st place
$500 for each 3 honorable mention

The AASM Foundation is dedicated to advancing sleep science and fostering the next generation of sleep and circadian researchers. As part of this commitment, the Trainee Investigator Award has been transitioned from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) to the AASM Foundation.

The Trainee Investigator Award recognizes an AASM Student/Resident Member who presents an outstanding research abstract at the SLEEP annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS). This award not only highlights exceptional research but also serves to encourage and nurture the professional growth of early-career investigators in sleep medicine.

The Trainee Investigator Award provides the following to the selected award recipients:

  • 1st Place: $1,000
  • 3 honorable mentions: $500 each

The following individuals are eligible to self-nominate:

  • Undergraduate Student
  • Graduate Student
  • Master’s Student
  • Medical Student – Preclinical
  • Medical Student – Clinical
  • Resident
  • Fellow (sleep medicine)
  • Fellow (non-sleep related)
  • PhD Student
  • Postdoctoral researchers
  • Advanced Practice Provider Program Students (PA, NP, etc.)
  • Allied Health Program Students (sleep technologist, respiratory therapist, etc.)

The following individuals are NOT eligible to self-nominate:

  • Current AASM and AASM Foundation Board of Directors members
  • AASM Foundation Research Career Development Committee members

The AASM Foundation Research Career Development Committee will evaluate and score all submitted nominations and select recipients for the award for AASM Foundation Executive Committee approval. Factors that will be taken into consideration include:

  1. Clarity: Is the abstract clear, well-organized, and easy to understand?
  2. Methodology: Are the research questions, methods, and results clearly presented and justified?
  3. Significance: Is the topic important, timely, and does it make a significant contribution to the field?
  4. Innovation: Is the work original, innovative, and does it offer new insights or approaches?

To submit a nomination for this award, you must submit an abstract to the SLEEP 2025 meeting. Please check YES to the following question in the SLEEP meeting abstract submission portal:

  • Would you like to apply for the AASM Foundation Trainee Investigator Award?

Frequently asked questions for our grant programs can be found here.

Individuals who have questions should contact us early in the nomination process. Eligibility questions may need to be reviewed by a member of the AASM Foundation Executive Committee, so please allow for at least a 1-week response time for eligibility questions. For all other inquiries, please allow a minimum of two business days for a response. Please note that questions received within 48 hours of a nomination deadline may not be answered before the deadline.

Past Recipients

2024 – Kyle Nameth
“Healthy Sleep, Healthy Mind: Examining the Relationship Between Objective Sleep Measures and Delirium Development”

2023 – Melissa Nevarez-Brewster
“Prenatal Maternal Sleep Quality Predicts Neonatal White Matter Microstructure and Infant Negative Emotionality”

2022 – Catherine Heinzinger
“Sleep-Related Hypoxemia Association with Incident Atrial Fibrillation in a Clinic-Based Cohort”

2021 – Omonigho Bubu
“Association of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Severity and Novel Plasma Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology”

2020 – Kent Werner
“Poor Sleep Quality Predicts Serum Markers Of Neurodegeneration And Cognitive Deficits In Warriors With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury”

2019 – Shadab Rahman
“Attentional Failures Are Correlated With Serious Medical Errors In Resident Physicians”

2018 – Camila Hirotsu
“Obstructive Sleep Apnea As Risk Factor For Incident Metabolic Syndrome In The Episono Cohort: An 8-year Follow-up Study”

2017 – Christopher Depner
“Simulated Night-Shift Work Alters the Balance and 24h Pattern of the Coagulation-Fibrinolysis Axis”

2016 – Kimberly Truong
“Characteristics of Unanticipated Hospital Admissions and Readmissions in CPAP Compliant and Non-Compliant Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea”

2015 – Aaron Holley
“Correlation between Respiratory Resistance Measurements and Apnea-Hypopnea Index”

2014 – Sheila Garland
“A Randomized Trial of Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Armodafinil to Treat Insomnia and Daytime Sleepiness in Cancer Survivors”

2013 – Camilla Hoyos
“Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Improves Hyposomatotropism in Men with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA): A Randomized Sham-Controlled 12 Week Study”

2012 – Denise Jarrin
“Neighborhood Disorder Moderates the Association Between Sleep and Socioeconomic Status”

2011 – Birgitte Kornum
“Common Variant in the P2Y11 Receptor Gene is Associated with Narcolepsy and with Higher Susceptibility to ATP Induced Cell Death in T Lymphocytes”

2010 – Siobhan Banks
“Effect of Sleep Dose on Recovery Sleep Stage and Slow Wave Energy Dynamics Following Chronic Sleep Restriction”

2009 – Rakesh Battacharjee
“Obstructive Sleep Apnea Exacerbates Dysfunction in Both Obese and Non-Obese Children”

2008 – Ehab Dayyat
“Peripheral recruitment of marrow-derived very small embryonic-like (VSEL) stem cells following intermittent hypoxia during sleep”

2007 – Frank Scheer
“Desynchrony Between Sleep-Wake Cycle and Circadian Cycle Leads to Suppressed Plasma Leptin; Potential Relevance for Shift Workers”

2006 – Sanjay Patel
“Reduced Sleep is a Risk Factor for Weight Gain”

2005 – Esra Tasali
“Experimental Suppression of Slow Wave Sleep Without Change in Total Sleep Time is Associated with Decreased Insulin Sensitivity and Glucose Tolerance”

2004 – Deirdre Conroy
“The Daily Rhythm of Brain Blood Flow”

2003 – Sanjay Patel
“A Prospective Study of Sleep Duration and Mortality Risk in Women”

2002 – Alex Desautels
“A Genetic Locus for RLS Maps to Chromosome 12q”

2001 – Carsten Beuckmann
“Genetic Ablation of Orexin Neurons Causes Narcolepsy in Mice”

2000 – Richard Chemelli
“Polysomnographic Characterization of Orexin-2 Receptor Knockout Mice”

1999 – Elda Arrigoni
“GABAergic and Glutamatergic Transmission in the Laterodorsal Tegmentum are Presynaptic Modulated by Adenosine”

1998 – Christelle Peyron
“mRNA Levels of Brain Derived-Neurotrophin Factor Increase in the Cerebral Cortex After Sleep Deprivation”

1997 – Mahesh Thakkar
“Neuronal Activity in the Cholinergic Pendunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus”

1996 –
“The Effects of Short and Long Naps Among Narcoleptic, Sleep Deprived and Alert Subjects”

1995 –
“A 1-Cycle Bright Light Stimulus Induces Type 1 Resetting in Human Subjects”

1993 –
“Cholinergic Stimulation of Cataplexy in the Narcoleptic Canine: Evidence of M2 Muscarinic Receptor Mediation in the Pontine Reticular Formation and the Basal Forebrain”