Sleep Health Trailblazer Receives National Sleep Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award

Max Hirshkowitz, PhD, has received the National Sleep Foundation’s (NSF) Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is the organization’s highest honor, recognizing an individual who has demonstrated exemplary leadership in the field of sleep health. The award celebrates the recipient’s connection to NSF’s non-profit, public health mission through their extensive professional contributions to the field, and to the work of the organization.

“NSF is honored to present Dr. Hirshkowitz with our Lifetime Achievement Award. His work as a scientist and his keen understanding of how to objectively measure and describe sleep, especially through polysomnography and evolving sleep monitoring technologies, has been pivotal in the field. Beyond the importance of his research, he is a noted educator and mentor who has made a significant impact on scores of active professionals in sleep disorders research, sleep medicine, and our broader work in public sleep health at NSF,” says Temitayo Oyegbile-Chidi, board chair of NSF.

Hirshkowitz is a retired consulting professor at Stanford University School of Public Health and full professor at Baylor College of Medicine, department of medicine. He was the founder and director of the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at the Michael E. DeBakey Houston Veteran Affairs Medical Center and training director of the Baylor Sleep Medicine Fellowship Training Program. 

His research focused on sleep disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia, fatigue management, and workplace safety. He was a member of NSF’s Consensus Panels that produced NSF’s landmark 2015 Sleep Duration Guidelines, Sleep Quality Recommendations, and Sleep Satisfaction Tool. Hirshkowitz also actively represented NSF in its collaboration with the Consumer Technology Association to develop definitions and sleep measurement and performance standards for consumer wearables and other devices.

Hirshkowitz served on numerous national and international committees, National Institutes of Health scientific review panels, and advisory boards, including having served on the board of NSF from 2009 to 2017 and as its chair from 2016 to 2017. He has authored hundreds of peer-reviewed articles and served on the editorial board of multiple journals, including Sleep Health, Sleep Medicine, and Sleep Research.