Research Career Development Committee

Mandate

The AASM Foundation Research Career Development Committee develops and implements activities that grow and sustain the pipeline of sleep and circadian scientists by developing mentorship, career advancement, and, networking opportunities, recognizing sleep researchers, and implementing strategies to better position early career investigators for a successful career in sleep research and support the careers of mid-career and senior investigators.

Goals for 2025-2026

    1. Mentorship Education: Develop a research mentorship toolkit.
    2. AASM Mentor Program: Expand the AASM Mentor Program research mentor pool and research mentoring topics and connect more students and early career researchers to mentors.
    3. Career and Leadership Advancement: Develop one professional/leadership development session for SLEEP 2026 and one online opportunity.
    4. Trainee Investigator Award: Review and select recipients of the Trainee Investigator Award at SLEEP.
    5. Mentor Award:: Review and select recipients for the Research Mentor Award.

Members

Chair: Logan Schneider, MD
Vice Chair: Andrew Varga, MD, PhD
Yi Cai, MD
Gwendolyn Carlson, PhD
Vaishnavi Kundel, MD, MS
Saif Mashaqi, MD
Sonja Schuetz MD, MS, MSc
Kathleen Sarmiento, MD
Board Liaison: Susheel Patil, MD, PhD
Staff: Vanessa Gonzalez, MPH