Earlier this year, the AASM Foundation was excited to launch our new travel grant for sleep technologists and advanced practitioner providers (APP) to attend the SLEEP Meeting in Houston. This initiative was launched as part of our new strategic plan which prioritizes that we invest in the people who are critical to the clinical practice of sleep medicine.
We want to extend a special note of appreciation to Christopher R. Hope, MD, MHA, for personally funding this new initiative which enabled nine people to attend the SLEEP Meeting for the very first time.
The travel grant was created specially for people like Rachel Ruppert who is an APP working the department of Pediatric Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt who said, “Training for this role has been challenging because there are so few resources for our small specialty.” She added, “The grant gave me the opportunity to meet experts in our field and make new friends who can help me in my role.”
Each recipient received a $2,000 stipend for travel and registration expenses. Thanks to the wonderful feedback back from the recipients, we are excited to announce that we are making plans to offer the grant next year for SLEEP 2025 in Seattle.
The 2024 Travel Grant Recipients
Rafeek Moiloth Kandy, RPSGT, CCSH
Colton Wiggins, MSML, BBA-HCM, RRT-SDS, RPSGT
Alisha Hays, RPSGT
Ana Gallegos, RPSGT
Rachel Fordyce, BS, RPSGT, RST, CCSH
Alyssa Hageman, RPSGT
Akuvi Agbo Atchon, APRN
Sherline Sauveur, DNP, AGNP-C
Rachel Ruppert, MSN, APRN, CPNP-PC
