Young Investigators Research Forum

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS!
Issue Date: | September 11, 2023 |
Application Due Date: | October 23, 2023 by 11:59 pm ET |
Selection Notification: | by January 31, 2024 |
Forum Dates: | Virtual Meetings: March 2024 May 2024 June 2024In-Person Meeting: April 17-19, 2024 The Bethesdan Hotel 8120 Wisconsin Avenue Bethesda, MD 20814 |
Amount of Funding: | Selected Young Investigators Research Forum Trainees will be provided:
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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 2024 will have a kick-off virtual meeting in March 2024, an in-person meeting on April 17-19, 2024 in Bethesda, MD, and additional virtual meetings in May 2024.
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 preliminary agenda for the Young Investigators Research Forum 2024 can be found here and is subject to change.
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 2023 in Bethesda, MD.
The Young Investigators Research Forum is sponsored by Avadel and 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:
- Sleep scientists (MD, DO, DDS, DMD, DNP, DNSc, PharmD, PhD, or equivalent) who are within 10 years of their terminal degree, post-doctoral training, or clinical training are eligible to apply.
- Must be members of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Sleep Research Society, American Academy of Neurology, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Chest Physicians, American Thoracic Society, American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine and/or Society for Research of Biological Rhythms.
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 Research Career Development 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:
- 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.
- Specific Aims: Well-articulated research question in the sleep or circadian field that addresses a major gap in current evidence.
- 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.
To apply for the Young Investigators Research Forum, you must register on AASM Foundation Grant Request. Please refer to the AASM Foundation Grant Request User Access Guide for guidance on setting up an account. For an overview of the information that is requested on the application form, please view the Young Investigators Research Forum 2024 Application Outline.
Step 2: Complete application
ACCESS THE YOUNG INVESTIGATORS RESEARCH FORUM 2024 APPLICATION
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 2023 Trainees

Sydney Aten, PhD1
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School

Lauren Barber, PhD, MSc
Emory University

Anthony Briggs, PhD
NYU Langone Health

Leandro Brito, PhD1
Oregon Health and Science University

Yi Cai, MD
University of Pennsylvania

Christopher Cano, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital

Katie Cederberg, PhD
Stanford University

Rebecca Cox, PhD
University of Colorado

Johanna Elumn, PhD
Yale University

Sarah Ferraro, PhD
Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School

Desiree Garcia Anton, MD
University of Miami

Chenlu Gao, PhD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital

Luciana Giorgio Cosenzo, PhD, MSW1
University of Alabama School of Social Work

Suzanne Gorovoy, PhD
University of Arizona

Ian Greenlund, PhD1
Mayo Clinic

Nicole Gumport, PhD
Stanford University

Amy Hartman, PhD, OTR/L1
University of Pittsburgh

Melissa Horger, PhD
Temple University

Asuka Ishihara, PhD
National Institute of Health

Sullafa Kadura, MD, MBA
University of Rochester Medical Center

Jess Meyer, PhD, MS, MA
University of Kansas Medical Center

Alyssa Minnick, PhD
University of Pennsylvania

Ogechukwu Obiano, MD
University of Iowa

Shameka Phillips, PhD, MSN
University of Washington

Sachin Shah, MD, MS
Indiana University School of Medicine

Oleksii Shandra, PhD
Florida International University

Cynthia Tchio, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital

Zhikui Wei, MD, PhD
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Chia-Lun Yang, PhD
University of Michigan

Westley Youngren, PhD
Canandaigua VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Research
1Supported through a travel scholarship from the Sleep Research Society Foundation
Kiran Maski, MD, MPH (Chair) | Harvard Medical School/Boston Children’s Hospital |
James Timothy McKenna, PhD (Vice Chair) | Harvard Medical School |
Ruth M. Benca, MD, PhD | Wake Forest University School of Medicine |
Philip Cheng, PhD | Henry Ford Health System |
Raj Dedhia, MD | University of Pennsylvania |
Chandra Jackson, PhD | National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences |
Reena Mehra, MD, MS | Cleveland Clinic |
Sairam Parthasarathy, MD | University of Arizona |
Jared Saletin, PhD | Alpert Medical School of Brown University |
Katie Lee Stone, PhD, MA | California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute |
Andrew W. Varga, MD, PhD | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai |
Sigrid Veasey, MD | University of Pennsylvania |
Kenneth Wright, Jr., PhD | University of Colorado |