DARIEN, IL – Four members of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine have been selected as the 2022 AASM award recipients for their contributions to the field of sleep medicine. They will be recognized during the plenary session of the SLEEP 2022 annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies on Monday, June 6, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I congratulate this year’s award recipients, whose dedication to advancing sleep medicine and sleep health is evident in their commitment to patient care, education, research, and advocacy,” said AASM President Dr. Raman Malhotra. “Their efforts help the AASM achieve its mission of advancing sleep care and enhancing sleep health to improve lives.”
The 2022 AASM award recipients, who were nominated by their colleagues and selected by the AASM board of directors, are:
Meir Kryger, M.D.
Nathaniel Kleitman Distinguished Service Award for dedication to the sleep field and significant contributions in the areas of administration, public relations and government affairs
Dr. Kryger is a past president of the AASM and a previous recipient of the William C. Dement Academic Achievement Award. He is a professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine and has been treating patients with sleep disorders for more than 40 years. His career in pulmonary medicine started with research at the Meakins-Christie Laboratory at McGill University in Montreal and an ALA Fellowship at the University of Colorado. In 1977 Kryger became director of the sleep disorders center at St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre in Winnipeg, the first clinical laboratory studying patients with breathing problems in Canada. He described what is probably the first case of sleep apnea in North America while a trainee at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. Kryger is chief editor of the most widely used textbook in sleep medicine, “The Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine,” now in its seventh edition, and the “Atlas of Clinical Sleep Medicine.” He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Kryger has served as president of the Canadian Sleep Society and chair of the board of directors of the National Sleep Foundation. He has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from both the Canadian Sleep Society and the NSF, the Mary Carskadon Outstanding Educator Award from the Sleep Research Society, and the Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Thoracic Society.
David M. Rapoport, M.D.
William C. Dement Academic Achievement Award for exceptional initiative and progress in the areas of sleep education and academic research
Dr. Rapoport is a professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and research director of the Mount Sinai Health System Integrative Sleep Center. He began studying respiratory physiology and control of breathing in the late 1970s in the Bellevue Pulmonary Physiology Laboratory, now the NYU Cournand Lab. He was involved in the development and application of nasal CPAP as a research tool and treatment modality, developed the leak-port modification of the original CPAP circuit, and has contributed other modifications of CPAP delivery aimed at making it more accessible and comfortable to improve adherence. Rapoport started the NYU sleep medicine fellowship training program and served as its director until 2010. He is part of PRIDE, an NIH-sponsored program that helps train and mentor junior faculty in preparation for careers in academic research, and he is founder and president of the Foundation for Research in Sleep Disorders, a nonprofit that supports research and training in sleep medicine. Rapoport has authored more than 140 peer-reviewed publications and holds 37 U.S. patents.
Seema Khosla, M.D.
Excellence in Education Award for outstanding contributions in the teaching of sleep medicine
Dr. Khosla is medical director of the North Dakota Center for Sleep and medical advisor for MedBridge Healthcare. She is committed to raising awareness of sleep medicine among her colleagues, other medical providers, and the public, and she works tirelessly to address patient care changes, practice disruptions, public awareness and public policies. Khosla completed her internal medicine residency at the University of Kentucky and a fellowship in pulmonary/critical care/sleep medicine at the Medical College of Georgia. She is a fellow of both the AASM and the American College of Chest Physicians. Khosla is active within the AASM and has served on numerous committees. She is chair of the Public Awareness Advisory Committee, a member of the COVID-19 Task Force, past chair of the Clinical and Consumer Sleep Technology Committee and was a member of the original Telemedicine Task Force. She was chair of the inaugural Sleep Medicine Disruptors course in 2019, has served as co-chair of the Sleep Medicine Trends course, and hosts the AASM podcast “Talking Sleep.”
Susan Redline, M.D.
Mark O. Hatfield Public Policy or Advocacy Award for developing public policy that positively affects the healthy sleep of all Americans
Dr. Redline is a past member of the AASM board of directors and a previous recipient of the William C. Dement Academic Achievement Award. She is the Peter C. Farrell Professor of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a professor of epidemiology at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, and director of the programs in sleep and cardiovascular medicine and sleep medicine epidemiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Her academic and scientific achievements in sleep medicine include the mentoring of more than 75 trainees, contributions to approximately 650 publications and continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1989. Redline has a master’s degree in public health and has led epidemiological studies and clinical trials designed to explain the etiologies of sleep disorders in adults and children, including the role of genetic and early life developmental factors, to understand the cardiovascular and other health outcomes of sleep disorders, and to clarify the role of sleep interventions in improving health and well-being. She codirects the National Sleep Research Resource, an international sleep data-sharing repository that has made sleep research data easily searchable and accessible, supporting community access to data and open-source tools. She also supports a sleep apnea patient-focused virtual community and works actively with patient advocates to improve patient education and support. Redline previously served on the board of directors of the Sleep Research Society.
More information about the AASM awards is available online.
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Photos are available upon request. For more information, please contact Communications Manager Jennifer Gibson at 630-737-9700 or email jgibson@aasm.org.
About the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Established in 1975, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine is advancing sleep care and enhancing sleep health to improve lives. The AASM has a combined membership of 11,000 accredited member sleep centers and individual members, including physicians, scientists and other health care professionals (aasm.org).