Young Investigators Research Forum

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS!

Issue Date: September 9, 2024
Application Due Date: October 21, 2024 by 11:59 pm ET
Selection Notification: by January 17, 2025
Forum Dates: Virtual Meeting:
March 2025In-Person Meeting:
April 23-25, 2025
The Bethesdan Hotel
8120 Wisconsin Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814
Amount of Funding: Selected Young Investigators Research Forum Trainees will be provided:

  • A travel scholarship that includes travel and lodging funded by the AASM Foundation to the in-person Young Investigators Research Forum 2025 in Bethesda, MD.
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View the Application Form Outline
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The AASM Foundation is committed to growing and supporting the pipeline of sleep scientists by investing in the research careers of new investigators through mentorship and grantsmanship training opportunities.

The Young Investigators Research Forum is a research training program designed to aid the career development of promising early career investigators in circadian and sleep research by providing opportunities to network with senior sleep investigators, exposure funding agencies and sleep funding mechanisms, refine their research ideas, and guidance to thrive in an academic sleep research career.

About the Young Investigators Research Forum

The Young Investigators Research Forum 2025 will have a kick-off virtual meeting in March 2025 and an in-person meeting on April 23-25, 2025 in Bethesda, MD.

The program will provide accepted applicants the guidance, tactics, and strategies to better position early career investigators for a successful career in circadian and sleep research by:

  • Understanding how to build a successful career in sleep research, including how to foster collaborations and develop mentorship relationships.
  • Understanding the policies and various mechanisms for sleep research funding.
  • Gain insight on the grant peer review structure and process.
  • Further develop specific aims for a grant proposal.

The Young Investigators Research Forum will provide an opportunity for collegial interaction among early career investigators and established senior investigators across the broad spectrum of basic, translational, clinical and population sleep and circadian science, as well as with scientific and program officers from various funding agencies.

The Young Investigators Research Forum provides a travel scholarship that includes travel and lodging coordinated and funded by the AASM Foundation to the in-person Young Investigators Research Forum 2025 in Bethesda, MD.

The Young Investigators Research Forum 2025 is sponsored in part by ResMed. Additional support is provided by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society Foundation.

The following individuals are eligible to apply:

  • Individuals with an MD, DO, DDS, DMD, DNP, DNSc, PharmD, PhD, or equivalent professional degree.
  • Individuals within 10 years of their terminal degree, post-doctoral training, or clinical training.

The following individuals are NOT eligible to apply:

  • Individuals who have received a federal career development grant (NIH K grant, VA Career Development Grant, or equivalent), or independent research funding (NIH R01 or equivalent) at the time of application.
  • Individuals who are at an institution outside of the United States.
  • Current AASM and AASM Foundation Board of Directors members cannot be listed as a mentor on an application during their term on the Board and for one year after their term ends.
  • Current Young Investigator Research Forum Planning Committee members cannot apply during their term on the committee.

The AASM Foundation Research Career Development Committee will evaluate and score all submitted applications, and make final selections of accepted applicants to the program. Factors that will be taken into consideration include:

  1. Contribution to Science: Clear commitment to an academic sleep research career based on training to date, research activities, scholarly productivity, and institutional commitment towards a research career.
  2. Specific Aims: Well-articulated research question in the sleep or circadian field that addresses a major gap in current evidence.
  3. Career Plan: Strong short-term and long-term career goals in sleep research. Clear justification for how the candidate will benefit from participating in the Young Investigators Research Forum and enhance the applicant’s career trajectory in circadian and sleep research.

We encourage potential applicants to contact us early in the application process with questions. 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 an application deadline may not be answered before the deadline.

Meet the Young Investigators Research Forum 2024 Trainees

Atqiya Aishah, PhD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Velarie Ansu, PhD
Feinberg School of Medicine. Northwestern University

Daniel Callow, PhD
Johns Hopkins University

Caitlin Carroll, PhD1
Wake Forest University

Caroline Doyle, PhD
University of Pittsburgh

Alexander Erickson, PhD
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System GRECC

Naomi Gaggi, PhD
New York University Grossman School of Medicine

Joshua Gills, PhD
New York University Langone Health

Aaron Glick, DDS2
Ember Sleep

Breanna Holloway, PhD
University of California, San Diego

Elizabeth Holzhausen, PhD
University of Colorado Boulder

Sina Kianersi, PhD, DVM
Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Stephen Lau, PhD
Washington University School of Medicine

Xiaoyue Liu, PhD, RN
New York University

Gina Mason, PhD1
Alpert Medical School/Bradley Hospital (EP Bradley Hospital Sleep Research Laboratory)

Kendall Nichols, MD
Emory University

Nathan Nowalk, MD
University of Chicago

Caitlin Paquet, PhD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Oscar Ramirez Plascencia, PhD1
BIDMC Harvard Medical School

Kaitlin Potts, PhD
The Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Julia Roncoroni, PhD
University of Denver

Bruno Saconi, PhD, RN
Geisinger

Linda Sangalli, DDS, MS, MS, PhD2
Midwestern University

Aarti Sathyanarayana, PhD
Northeastern University

Brooke Shafer, PhD
Oregon Health & Science University

Rupsha Singh, PhD
National Institute on Aging

Christine So, PhD
Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center

Haoqi Sun, PhD
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Tue Te, MD
Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania

Mark Thomas, PhD
VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System

Youmeng Wang, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Megan Wenzell, PhD, RN1
Case Western Reserve University

Sajila Wickramaratne, PhD1
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Jing Zhang, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School

Charlie Zhong, PhD, MPH
American Cancer Society

1Supported through a travel scholarship from the Sleep Research Society Foundation

2Supported through a travel scholarship from the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine

Alumni & Faculty of the Young Investigators Research Forum

2023

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2022

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2021

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