Annual Report

2020 Annual Report

World Sleep Society is a nonprofit, membership-based organization representing sleep researchers and clinicians with programs focusing on awareness and education. Led by volunteers from around the world, we fulfill our mission to advance sleep health worldwide by encouraging education, research, and patient care, especially in regions where sleep medicine is less developed.

Though its roots go back to 1988, World Sleep Society (WSS) was created in 2016 when its two founding organizations, World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM) and the World Sleep Federation (WSF), merged. View current officers and committees.

Read the 2020 Year-End Letter from the President


2020 Education & Awareness Programs Overview

  • Preparation for World Sleep 2022
  • Launch of Healthier Sleep magazine
  • World Sleep Virtual Meeting
  • Guidelines for the treatments of sleep disorders
  • New class of mentor/mentee program ISRTP
  • Individual and society memberships
  • Endorsed sleep education meetings
  • Continuation of Sleep Medicine journal
  • World Sleep Day on Friday, March 13, 2020
  • World Sleep Job Board
  • Continuation of networking within the online Sleep Directory
  • Christian Guilleminault Awards disseminated

2020 Program Breakdown

World Sleep 2022

Rome, Italy | March 11-16, 2022

Extensive planning for the biennial congress took place in 2020. The location of Rome, Italy was selected with the Italian Association of Sleep Medicine being named as the host society. By the end of the year, the 2022 Program Committee had selected 14 keynote speakers ranging from pediatric sleep to insomnia to movement disorders, representing the most diverse set of keynote speakers to date. World Sleep Society committees are anticipating the symposia submission opening date of March 1, 2021 and expect the largest number of submissions to date. The worldsleepcongress.com website is kept current with updates on the congress.


Healthier Sleep Magazine

In 2020, World Sleep Society launched a public awareness magazine to act as a trusted source for improving sleep. Our first issue went to 16,481 individuals digitally and included 1,500 printed copies mailed. And with each issue, that number continues to grow. Leaders in the sleep medicine and research field subscribe to receive Healthier Sleep Magazine for use in their offices, waiting rooms, sleep labs, universities, hospitals, clinics and other various locations. We are pleased to offer this bimonthly magazine as a complimentary benefit to the public and our community. With a steady stream of subscriptions, the second digital issue is anticipated to go out to more than 20,000 individuals.


World Sleep Virtual Meeting

In 2020, we offered the latest in sleep medicine and research during this multi-day online event. The virtual meeting was and remains available at no cost to members. Sessions began on December 3-5, 2020, and will continue through December 2021.

At the December online event, we combined 40 speakers from 12 countries (28 speaking live virtually and 14 speaking in on demand recordings). With speakers and attendees combined, Virtual Meeting brought together individuals from 23+ countries. Participants had access to 18.3 hours of content for the December program (4.68 hours of on demand content; 13.65 hours of simulated live content.) More content will be added continuously throughout 2021 with the next virtual meetings scheduled for February 18, 2021, June 24, 2021 and September 16, 2021.


Guidelines

In 2020, the International Sleep Medicine Guidelines Committee Task Force Members, Chaired by Dr. Clete Kushida, prepared, approved and submitted four guidelines to Sleep Medicine Journal for publication. The Task Force selected existing guidelines and reviewed them for endorsement by World Sleep Society, ensured they were internationally relevant, provided a template for each guideline review and submitted the position statement to be reviewed and signed off by the Governing Council before submission for publication in the Sleep Medicine Journal. The Guidelines approved were:

The Worldwide Survey of Health-Care Providers Caring for Patients with Narcolepsy
L. Rosenthal, M. Thorpy, S. Nevsimalova, G. Mayer, F. Han, Y. Dauvilliers

Clinical Practice Guideline for Diagnostic Testing for Adult Obstructive Sleep Apnea: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline
G. Hamilton, R. Gupta, D. Vizcarra, G. Insalaco, F. Escobar, H. Kadotani

Endorsement by World Sleep Society of a Combination of Three RLS/WED Guidelines
D. Garcia-Borreguero, D. Vizcarra, L. Ferini-Strambi, R. Gupta, J. Winkelman, A. Walters, C. Kushida

Endorsement of European guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of insomnia by World Sleep Society
C. Morin, D. Poyares, Y. Inoue, J. Winkelman, C. Kushida


New class of our mentor/mentee program ISRTP

In 2020, World Sleep Society developed a new class within the International Sleep Research Training Program (ISRTP). The trainees were selected and matched with sleep research mentors at host academic institutions.

Class Selected & Matched
Andrey Golovatyuk, MD (Russia) will be mentored by Fang Han, MD at PEKING UNIVERSITY PEOPLE’S HOSPITAL – PKUPH Sleep Center

Wenjing Jiang, PhD (China) will be mentored by Clete Kushida, MD, PhD at STANFORD UNIVERSITY – Division of Sleep Medicine

Soriul Kim, PhD, MPH (Republic of Korea) will be mentored by Allan Pack, MBChB, PhD at UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA – Center for Sleep & Circadian Neurobiology

Arezu Najafi, MD (Iran) will be mentored by Fang Han, MD at PEKING UNIVERSITY PEOPLE’S HOSPITAL – PKUPH Sleep Center

Hua Qin, PhD (China) will be mentored by Thomas Penzel, PhD at CHARITÉ UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL BERLIN – Sleep Medicine Center

Yun Shen, MD, PhD (China) will be mentored by Yanagisawa Masashi, MD, PhD at UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA- International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine (IIIS)

Xi Zhang, MBBS, MM (China) will be mentored by Clete Kushida, MD, PhD at STANFORD UNIVERSITY – Division of Sleep Medicine

Yuan Zhang, MD, PhD (China) will be mentored by Susan Redline, MD, MPH at HARVARD UNIVERSITY – Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School

Bingqian Zhu, PhD (China) will be mentored by Simon Kyle, MA, PhD at UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD – Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute

The next class of Mentors and Mentees will be selected in January 2021. Learn more.


World Sleep Day 2020

Read the 2020 Press release

2020 World Sleep Day Accomplishments:

  • 382 official delegates joined the campaign
  • 199 sleep awareness activities took place
  • 56 countries participated
  • Countries new this year: Barbados, Luxembourg & Nepal
  • Trending on social media under the hashtag #WorldSleepDay
  • 2020 partners included AMLife International, Fidia Farmaceutici, SleepScore Labs, Verve Label Group, The Sleep Forum, Langria, Argos, Sleep Country and Thrive Global.

View the 2020 Distinguished Activity Awards.

The next World Sleep Day will take place on March 19, 2021. For more information on World Sleep Day, including how to become a delegate, visit www.worldsleepday.org.


Christian Guilleminault Awards

World Sleep Society presented the Christian Guilleminault Young Investigator Award to the following individuals:

Larissa C. Engert in recognition for research on Exposure to experimentally induced sleep disturbance affects the inflammatory resolution pathways in healthy humans presented at the SLEEP 2020 Virtual Meeting on August 27-30, 2020.

Lukas Krone in recognition for research on Cortical regulation of global sleep homeostasis presented at the ESRS Virtual Congress 2020 on September 22-24, 2020.

These young investigator awards were selected to encourage young investigators in the field of sleep, especially in developing portions of the world, to advance Sleep Medicine & Research worldwide.


Sleep Medicine Exam

The next World Sleep Society-hosted exam will take place during World Sleep 2022 in Rome, Italy. Developed in accordance with our mission to advance sleep health worldwide, the overarching goal of the exam is to provide an opportunity for individuals, especially those in underserved countries, to earn the sleep specialist designation. Read additional information related to the exam. Questions can be directed to Angie Granum at World Sleep Society. Learn how to host an exam.


Membership

In 2020, World Sleep Society’s global representation was 14,000 sleep professionals, of that, 340 were individual memberships and 44 were Associate Society Members.

All individual memberships include the following benefits:

  • Access to international standards, best practices and current research in the field of Sleep Medicine
  • Access to World Sleep Virtual Meeting
  • Healthier Sleep Magazine
  • Access to Sleep Medicine journal (all memberships receive online and app access; full membership also includes printed journal)
  • Discount pricing for the biennial World Sleep Congress
  • Inclusion in and access to the World Sleep online directory of sleep medicine professionals around the globe
  • Eligibility to serve on WSS committees
  • Eligibility to participate and vote in WSS general assembly meetings
  • Use the “International Sleep Specialist” designee after successfully passing the WSS exam

Associate Society Members
The fundamental mission of World Sleep Society is to advance sleep health worldwide. In an effort to increase global awareness of sleep issues, WSS has formed a relationship with the following national sleep societies or regional federations. View all current Associate Societies.

Added in 2020:


Endorsed Meetings

World Sleep Society strives to provide information, increase awareness, and champion advocacy on sleep and its disorders amongst both healthcare workers and the general public. In an effort to raise awareness, we promote sleep meetings around the world. In 2020, WSS endorsed more than 25 sleep meetings and conferences around the world. If your society has an upcoming meeting and would like to list it with us, learn more about our endorsed meetings.


Growth in Outreach

From December 2019 to December 2020, World Sleep Society’s following has seen steady growth. Our digital mailing list saw an 8% increase in opt-ins. And in social media, WSS’s Twitter page grew 25% and Facebook followers increased over 21%. Join us today. Join us today!

As of December 15, 2020, total followers were:

  • 4,803 Twitter
  • 6,668 Facebook
  • 26,776 Constant Contact

 


Past Annual Reports available online

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