Sleep Research Symposium more than keeps them awake at U of A

U of A Provost Patricia Prelock, PhD, offers introductory remarks at the start of the second annual Sleep Research Symposium.

Sairam Parthasarathy, MD, Center for Sleep, Circadian & Neuroscience Research director, introduces the symposium’s first keynote speaker Lora Reineck, MD, MS, PCORI’s director of the Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research (CER) Program.

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s Lora Reineck, MD, MS, speaks at the Jan. 30 Sleep Research Symposium about “Advancing Patient-Centered Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research” – the PCORI mission.

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s Lora Reineck, MD, MS, speaks about “Advancing Patient-Centered Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research” – the PCORI mission at the U of A 2026 Sleep Research Symposium.

Scott Kilgore, PhD, a professor of psychiatry, psychology, and medical imaging and director of the Department of Psychiatry’s Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) Lab, asks Dr. Reineck a question about PCORI and research funding it provides.

Sleep Research Symposium keynote speaker Phyllis Zee, MD, PhD, director of Northwestern’s Center for Circadian & Sleep Medicine, givers her talk on “Sleep, Eating and Light: Coordinated Rhythms for Cardiometabolic and Brain Health.”

Northwestern’s Phyllis Zee, as part of her keynote address, talks about the origins of circadian rhythms and the importance of maintaining balance between wakefulness and sleeping for our health.

The College of Science’s Daniel Taylor, PhD, a psychologist and diplomate of both sleep medicine and behavioral sleep medicine, is one of invited speakers at the Sleep Research Symposium. He has significant expertise in both the epidemiology and treatment of comorbid sleep disorders, primarily insomnia, nightmares and circadian rhythm disorders.

Another Sleep Research Symposium invited speaker Michelle Perfect, PhD, professor in the U of A College of Education’s School Psychology Program, focuses part of her work on benefits of sleep, behavioral medicine, positive psychology, technology-based, or mind-body interventions to improve school-related and neurobehavioral functioning.

Michael Grandner, PhD, director of the Sleep & Heath Research Program in the College of Medicine – Tucson’s Department of Psychiatry, focuses his work on translational sleep research and behavioral sleep medicine, including studies of sleep as a domain of health behavior and development and implementation of behavioral interventions for insufficient sleep and sleep disorders.

Sleep symposium audience members listen to various presenters and data blitz lightning round presentations, including Saif Mashaqi, MD (center), who is the PACCS division’s Sleep Medicine Fellowship Program director.

Pediatric sleep medicine specialist Daniel Combs, MD (left), and Sairam Parthasarathy, MD (right), give Sleep Research Symposium keynote speakers PCORI’s Lora Reineck, MD, and Northwestern’s Phyllis Zee, MD, PhD, a tour of the UA Center for Sleep, Circadian & Neuroscience Research.

Michael Amadei talks to College of Medicine – Tucson chief of staff Jameshia Granberry, PhD, about his research poster, “Performance Evaluation of Multisensor Ring during a Clinical Multiple Sleep Latency Test.”

Students answer questions of faculty about the research behind their poster presentations during the competitive part of the Sleep Research Symposium.

Pulmonary division chief, Banner Sleep Disorders Center director and CSCNR director Sairam Parthasarathy, MD, hears trainees explanations of the research premises behind their posters at the U of A’s second annual Sleep Research Symposium.

Northwestern Center for Circadian & Sleep Medicine director Phyllis Zee, MD, PhD, talks with students and trainees about their career trajectories and how to select mentors to ease their path.

A Sleep Research Symposium invited speaker Rina Fox, PhD, MPH, a clinical health psychologist with the UA College of Nursing and co-director of the Cancer Center's Behavioral Measurement and Interventions Shared Resource, discusses her interest in the role of sleep disturbance and fatigue in health-related quality of life and development of interventions to improve these outcomes among cancer survivors.

Pediatric sleep medicine specialist Daniel Combs, MD, talks about his research on obstructive sleep apnea in children with Down Syndrome, for which he won a significant PCORI grant in 2025 valued at $10 million.

The Department of Medicine’s Sairam Parthasarathy, MD, and Saif Mashaqi, MD, offer an overview on the Sleep Medicine Program within the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine as well as the U of A Center for Sleep, Circadian & Neuroscience Research.