Young Investigators Research Forum & Sleep Research Program for Advancing Careers – Faculty & Attendees

Dr. Priscilla Amofa-Ho completed her doctoral training at University of Florida in clinical neuropsychology. Her interests are in mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias, implementation of interventions to prevent cognitive impairment and adaptation of interventions for underserved populations. She joined the McCrae Sleep Research Lab at University of South Florida to advance her training in how sleep impacts cognitive aging and neurodegenerative disorders.

Dr. Katyayini Aribindi is a sleep medicine fellow at University of California-Davis, having already completed her Pulmonary & Critical Care at UC-Davis and her Internal Medicine Residency at University of Texas-Houston. She has research interests in the overlap of sleep disordered breathing and pulmonary overlap syndromes. She completed a T32 research year investigating the effects of jet fuel on airway epithelium.

Dr. Alexander Baumgartner is a neurologist with fellowship training in movement disorders and a particular focus on deep brain stimulation (DBS). He is interested in the relationship between DBS and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson disease, in particular sleep dysfunction. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Dr. Miranda Chappel-Farley is a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Pittsburgh. By combining neuroimaging techniques, physiological measurements, and behavioral assessments, her research aims to determine the mechanistic role of sleep and physical activity in brain dynamics and memory function, with the goal of developing interventions to delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Chad Coleman is a National Institutes of Health T32 postdoctoral research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He completed his PhD in Epidemiology from Boston University in 2024, where he examined the prospective association between sleep and reproductive outcomes. His current research explores how sleep health relates to blood pressure outcomes in pregnant and non-pregnant populations.

Dr. Lauren Hartstein is an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Her research focuses on modifiable environmental and behavioral factors affecting sleep and circadian health in early childhood, with an emphasis on the role of the lighting environment.

Dr. Dana Kamara is a clinical psychologist at the University of Colorado, specializing in behavioral sleep medicine. She was recently awarded seed funding to begin examining sleep health in girls with Turner syndrome. She is passionate about building a research program to improve sleep health in children and families affected by pediatric neurodevelopmental and/or medical conditions.

Dr. Kat Kennedy is a postdoctoral researcher in the Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) Lab at the University of Arizona. She received her PhD in Physiological Sciences from the University of Arizona in 2024 and has broad research interests in women’s health and the impacts of circadian misalignment on cognitive performance and eating behavior.

Dr. Erin Kishman is a postdoctoral fellow at Colorado State University. She received her PhD in exercise science from the University of South Carolina. She has experience in measuring sleep using wearable devices and is currently gaining more clinical sleep and circadian science training at Colorado State University. Her NIH T32 project focuses on the impact of circadian misalignment on markers of neurodegeneration.

Dr. Joshua Landvatter is a Behavioral Sleep Medicine Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Utah. His current work explores the intersection of sleep and relationship dynamics as key factors in healthy aging. Building on research linking relationship dynamics to physical health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, he seeks to advance understanding of mechanisms related to healthy aging.

Dr. Ari Leonhard completed his Internal Medicine Residency followed by Sleep Medicine Fellowship at the University of Chicago. He is currently a Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellow at the University of Washington. Ari works with his mentor, Dr. Lucas Donovan, on health systems research focusing on the delivery of care to patients with pulmonary and sleep related disorders.

Dr. G. Max Liu is currently a sleep medicine fellow at Washington University in St. Louis. He is interested in investigating the bidirectional relationship between sleep and neurodegeneration and also using antisense oligonucleotide to target tau protein as a treatment for neurological diseases.

Dr. Magaña is a National Research Service Award T32 Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her residency otolaryngology-head & neck surgery and will continue as a clinical fellow in sleep medicine & surgery at Penn this year.

Dr. Clarisa Medina Poeliniz is a first-year postdoctoral fellow studying social determinants of health that impact sleep duration and practice to develop culturally relevant interventions that reduce cardiometabolic risk factors in Latinas. A secondary interest is exploring whether human milk components have a circadian rhythm and whether components play a role in infant growth and development of their biological clock.

Dr. Christina Mu is a T32 postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics), working with Dr. Katie Stone. She studies sleep and pain, specifically its reciprocal relationship and joint effects on health outcomes. Future aims are to study the chronification of transient sleep and pain problems, modifiable risk factors, and pain reactivity.

Dr. Brittanny Polanka is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Population Science. Dr. Polanka completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Indiana University-Indianapolis. Her program of research aims to identify, understand, and intervene upon psychosocial and behavioral risk factors for and exacerbators of cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Joel Raymond is a behavioral neuroscientist with a PhD from the University of Sydney and postdoctoral training at Rutgers University. Their research focuses on the role of sleep in mental health and psychiatric disorders involving the dysregulation of motivated behaviors. By leveraging preclinical models, they aim to develop novel treatments for mental health conditions and disorders.

Dr. David Reichenberger’s research investigates the interplay among sleep health, cardiovascular health, and daily health-related behaviors, such as smartphone interactions or substance use. He leverages advanced statistical methodology to analyze intensive longitudinal data. Ultimately, he aims to develop interventions that minimize the physiological consequences of health behaviors.

Dr. Kimberly Savin is a postdoctoral fellow at VA San Diego. Her research interests are the association of sleep and cardiometabolic health and reducing sleep inequities. She completed her doctoral training at the San Diego State University/University of California-San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology and postdoctoral residency at the VA Sepulveda in Behavioral Sleep Medicine and Primary Care Mental Health.

Dr. Jelaina Shipman-Lacewell is a postdoctoral fellow in the Multidisciplinary Research Training to Reduce Inequalities in Cardiovascular Health (METRIC) T32 program at Emory University. Her work focuses on examining the role of the sociocultural environment in sleep and cardiometabolic health to inform culturally relevant interventions to improve the health of Black individuals across the lifespan.

Dr. Garima Sinha is an Orthodontic resident with a diverse background in dental medicine and research. Passionate about exploring sleep apnea management, she aims to contribute to this field as an orthodontist. Recognized with awards like the Frances Best Watkins Award and the AAO Dental Student Scholarship, she strives to advance dental sleep medicine through impactful research and innovation.

Dr. Ivy Wei is a Clinical Assistant Professor in Prosthodontics at University of Michigan. Her research focuses on obstructive sleep apnea treatment for edentulous patients. Leading the Dental Sleep Clinic, she encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and remains committed to patient-centered care and impactful solutions.

Dr. Kelcie Willis is a T32 postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University and completed a pre-doctoral clinical internship at Yale School of Medicine. Her research seeks to improve the quality-of-life of patients with cancer and their caregivers through the development of supportive care interventions.

Dr. Fernanda Yanez Regonesi obtained board certification in orofacial pain and dental sleep medicine. She is faculty at the University of Kentucky and the clinic director of the orofacial pain clinic. Her research interests are bruxism, dental sleep medicine and neuropathic pain.

Dr. Phoebe Yu attended Harvard College followed by Yale School of Medicine. She then completed otolaryngology residency at Massachusetts Eye & Ear. She received a T32 training grant and a Masters of Public Health in biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health. She is currently a sleep medicine fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests relate to outcomes research in sleep surgery.

Dr. Afsara Zaheed is a clinical neuropsychologist and currently a T32 postdoctoral scholar at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research examines how sleep and other modifiable biopsychosocial factors over the life-course impact cognitive aging, the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD), and the development of racial, gender, and intersectional disparities in ADRD.

Dr. Li Zhou is a postdoctoral fellow at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She received her medical degree in China and PhD in Medical Science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on sleep disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, including ɑ-synucleinopathies and Alzheimer’s disease, from mechanism to clinical intervention.

Dr. Raj Dedhia is currently Associate Professor and Director of Sleep Surgery & CPAP Alternatives Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Jennifer Martin is a clinical psychologist and professor of medicine at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and associate director for clinical and health services research in the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System’s Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center. Her research focuses on improving sleep as a key component of physical and mental health.

Dr. Katie Sharkey is a physician‐scientist with expertise in sleep, circadian rhythms, and mood regulation. Her research focuses on interventions to address sleep difficulties during pregnancy, the postpartum period, and menopause. She serves on the editorial board of Sleep Health and is an Associate Editor of Behavioral Sleep Medicine and Frontiers in Sleep.

Dr. Kelly Baron is a Professor in the Division of Public Health at the University of Utah. Her research focuses on sleep interventions to reduce cardiometabolic risk and she is the training director of the behavioral sleep medicine program.

Dr. Jamie Zeitzer is a professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and a health science specialist at VA Palo Alto. He has studied sleep and circadian rhythms for over 30 years, with his current work focusing on light and wearable technology to manipulate sleep and mood.

Dr. Mary Carskadon is Director of the Chronobiology and Sleep Research Laboratory at Bradley Hospital, a professor at the Alpert Medical School, and Director of the COBRE Center for Sleep and Circadian Rhythms. Her early research with her graduate mentor, William C. Dement, led to the development of the MSLT. Her work has highlighted the public health impact of insufficient sleep in adolescents.

Dr. Dayna Johnson is a sleep epidemiologist whose research focuses on the social determinants of sleep health disparities, particularly among African American communities.

Dr. Stacey Simon is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Director of Behavioral Sleep Medicine at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Her research focuses on physical and mental health outcomes and the impact of circadian misalignment in adolescents.

Dr. Sairam Parthasarathy is Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the University of Arizona. He is the principal investigator for the Arizona RECOVER Cohort studying the long-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Dr. Galit Levi Dunietz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Michigan, examining the intersections of sleep, cardiometabolic health, and cognitive function during key reproductive events.

Dr. Daniel Buysse conducts clinical and translational sleep research, focusing on self-report measures, behavioral treatments, and multidimensional sleep health. Dr. Buysse has mentored dozens of post-doctoral fellows, junior faculty, graduate and medical students. His trainees have first-authored >80 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Buysse directs sleep and circadian science T32 HL082610.

Dr. Michael Twery is a retired NIH program officer with 25 years’ experience advising researchers in sleep, circadian, and respiratory sciences navigating the federal grant competition and research policies ranging from basic neurobiology and genomics to multi-site clinical trials.

Dr. Joshua Gills’ current and future research lies at the intersection of lifestyle modifications, aging, health disparities, and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). His research investigates how fitness, sleep, and vascular risk impact cognitive decline and ADRD risk among mid-to-late life underrepresented adults using novel neuroimaging and field-based approaches.

Dr. Gawon Cho is an Alzheimer’s disease researcher, focusing on characterizing pathways through which sleep deficiency affects the brain. She is particularly interested in the dependence of brain fluid transport on sleep and its association with imaging markers of Alzheimer’s disease. Her current career goal is to gain independence in imaging and epidemiology research.

Dr. Misol Kwon, a T32 postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, focuses on sleep health, circadian rhythms, and blood pressure regulation in female breast cancer survivors. Her goal is to develop prevention and treatment strategies that enhance sleep and cardiovascular health in cancer survivors.

Dr. Oren Cohen is an Assistant Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. His research focuses on the links between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), inflammation, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.

Dr. Sebastian Jara is a sleep fellowship-trained otolaryngologist at Keck Medicine of USC, who specializes in treating snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. His current research focus is to understand the causes of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea and to develop cutting-edge surgical and non-surgical treatments for these conditions as an alternative to CPAP machines.

Dr. Safwan Badr is the chair of the Wayne State University School of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine. He is also a professor of internal medicine and physiology, a staff physician at the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, and the chief clinical officer of the Wayne State University Physician Group.

Dr. Brienne Miner is a geriatrician and sleep medicine physician at Yale University. She completed clinical and research fellowships in Geriatrics and a clinical fellowship in Sleep Medicine. Her research focuses on improving the evaluation and management of sleep deficiency in older persons.

Dr. Alberto Ramos, a Neurology Professor at the University of Miami, studies sleep disorders, cerebrovascular disease, and neurocognitive aging. His research explores how sleep apnea and nighttime blood pressure affect dementia risk in Hispanic/Latino adults.

Dr. Mayte Suarez-Farinas is a Professor at the Center for Biostatistics of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. She earned an MSc in mathematics from the University of Havana and a PhD in data science from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her work bridges statistics and data science with a focus on precision medicine algorithms.

Dr. Maya Elias is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics at the University of Washington. Her research aims to improve outcomes for older ICU survivors and mitigate post-intensive care syndrome.

Dr. Louise O’Brien is a Professor in the Division of Sleep Medicine, Department of Neurology at the University of Michigan. She has expertise in sleep and maternal/infant and child health, and is dedicated to mentoring the next generation of researchers.