The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) named the University of Michigan Center for Sleep Science, Ann Arbor, a Comprehensive Academic Sleep Program of Distinction. It is now one of only three institutions to earn the title.

“AASM Comprehensive Academic Sleep Programs of Distinction recognizes academic sleep programs that have demonstrated excellence through compliance with rigorous standards in the areas of clinical service, educational mission and research accomplishments,” states the AASM Web site.
 
The recognition is based on evidence of across-the-board achievement as demonstrated by an accredited Sleep Disorders Center, externally funded research, peer-reviewed publications, a nationally accredited training program for sleep specialists, and productive mentorship of future sleep researchers. U-M has 43 faculty members affiliated with its academic sleep program from more than 15 different departments in disciplines ranging from neurology to dentistry to mathematics.

Programs recognized as an AASM Comprehensive Academic Sleep Program of Distinction can compete annually for a 1-year grant from the American Sleep Medicine Foundation that supports a fellow for training in sleep medicine research. All recognized programs will receive a grant that provides travel assistance to the SLEEP meeting for one fellow each year.

The only other institutions to receive the honor are the University of Louisville, Louisville, Ky, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard University Medical Center, Boston.
 
“An NIH grant review recently commented that the Center for Sleep Science should be considered a ‘poster child’ for U-M” when it comes to an interdisciplinary field organized in parallel to traditional departments,” said Ronald D. Chervin, MD, professor of neurology and a sleep specialist who co-directs the Center for Sleep Science. “We have unusual opportunities to collaborate across a large campus, and this in addition to the quality of our programs positions us well to provide leading-edge patient care, expand what we know about sleep, and train the people who will one day be doing all this even better than we can now.”

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Brigham and Women’s Division of Sleep Medicine Receives High Honors