2019 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.
Download the Annual Report
World Sleep Society (WSS) was founded in 2016. As a merger of two organizations, WSS operates its own programs, as well as the programming of two previous organizations: World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM) and the World Sleep Federation (WSF). View current officers and committees.
Read the 2019 Year-End Letter from the President
2019 Education & Awareness Programs Overview
- World Sleep 2019 from September 20-25 in Vancouver, Canada
- World Sleep Day on Friday, March 15, 2019
- Inaugural class of the new mentor/mentee program ISRTP
- Sleep Specialist Exam administered in Canada, India, and Vietnam
- Individual and society memberships
- Endorsed sleep education meetings
- Monthly issues of Sleep Medicine journal
- Guidelines for the treatments of sleep disorders
- World Sleep Job Board
- Continuation of networking within the online Sleep Directory
Our 2019 Photo Highlights
JANUARY
Program Committee in New York City to finalize symposia & courses for World Sleep 2019
FEBRUARY
Site selection for World Sleep 2021
MARCH
The globe unites for World Sleep Day 2019
APRIL
ISRTP inaugural class announced
MAY
World Sleep Day Distinguished Activity Awards Selected
JUNE
Participated in American Academy of Sleep Medicine & Sleep Research Society’s SLEEP meeting
JULY
Loss of a sleep pioneer, Dr. Christian Guilleminault
AUGUST
World Sleep 2019 secured the largest exhibitor floor plan and sponsorship list in its historySEPTEMBER
World Sleep 2019 brings 3,583 sleep professionals to Vancouver, Canada
OCTOBER
Participated in the Chinese Sleep Research Meeting
NOVEMBER
Administered the exam in Vietnam, bringing the number of Sleep Specialists who passed the exam in 2019 up to 76DECEMBER
Participated in the Brazilian Sleep Society Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2019 Program Breakdown
World Sleep 2019: Our Largest Congress to Date
Vancouver, Canada September 20-25, 2019
Read the Daily Congress Highlights
2019 Program Committee
Maree Barnes, MD (Australia)
Célyne Bastien, PhD (Canada)
John Fleetham, MD, FRCP(C) (Canada)
Reut Gruber, PhD (Canada)
Yuichi Inoue, MD (Japan)
Clete Kushida, MD, PhD (USA)
Charles Morin, PhD (Canada)
Allan O’Bryan (USA)
Thomas Penzel, PhD (Germany)
Dalva Poyares, MD, PhD (Brazil)
View all organizing committees of 2019.
World Sleep 2019 Accomplishments
World Sleep 2019 brought together 3,583 sleep medicine and research professionals. The scientific program included 320 hours of content, including:
- 12 keynotes
- 23 pre-congress courses and workshops
- 99 symposia and panel discussions
- 1,313 abstract presentations
- 90 exhibitors
- 39 prescribed credits (CME), 30.5 CSTE credits & 28.25 CE credit hours
World Sleep 2019 had a 36% increase in attendance over World Sleep 2017 (which was previously our largest congress). The worldsleepcongress.com website received over 1 million views in 2019. Our 3,583 international attendees attended from six continents and 77 countries. View the breakdown in our Global Diversity overview.
World Sleep Day 2019
2019 World Sleep Day® Committee
Liborio Parrino (Italy), Chair
Richard Allan (US)
Ximena Alvarado (Bolivia)
Manvir Bhatia (India)
Ravindra Chandrashekhar (US)
Rayleigh Ping-Ying Chiang (Taiwan)
Miguel Meira e Cruz (Portugal)
Antonio Culebras (US)
Marta Gonçalves (Portugal)
Ravi Gupta (India)
Lenise Jihe Kim (Brazil)
Melissa Lipford (US)
Elena M. Majano (El Salvador)
Ghulam Mustafa (Pakistan)
Laura Palagini (Italy)
Muhammad Sayed (US)
2019 World Sleep Day Accomplishments:
- 352+ official delegates joined the campaign
- 200+ sleep awareness activities have been added to worldsleepday.org
- 53 countries have notified us of participation in World Sleep Day, including the addition of seven new countries: Albania, Slovenia, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Croatia and Bahrain
- Media mentions came in across the globe including outlets such as NBC, BBC, Daily Mail, Forbes, Men’s Health and many others
- We were trending on social media under the hashtag #WorldSleepDay
- Our 2019 partners included Westin Hotels & Resorts, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Fidia Farmaceutici, AMLife International, Dormeo and Philips.
2019 World Sleep Day Distinguished Activities Awards
Each year, a selection of Distinguished Activities is chosen by our World Sleep Day Committee. Winners receive one complimentary registration to attend the next World Sleep Congress to receive a trophy at the Opening Ceremony. Honorable Mentions are also invited on stage to receive a certificate of achievement.
2019 Distinguished Activity Awardees
Portuguese Sleep Association | APS, ANSS, ESRS
Fernando Alberto Ceballos Fuentes, MD, MsC | Guatemalan Association of Sleep Medicine
Miguel Meira e Cruz | Portuguese Association of Chronobiology and Sleep Medicine; Sleep Unit of Cardiovascular Center, University of Lisbon, School of Medicine
Dr. Prerana Garg & Dr. Himanshu Garg | Sleep Cure Solutions
Montida Veeravigrom, MD | Sleep Society of Thailand
Dr N. Ramakrishnan | Nithra Institute of Sleep Sciences
2019 Honorable Mention
Lew Mun Yee | Am Life International
Rayleigh Ping Ying Chiang | International Sleep Science Technology Association
Elena Maricela Majano, MD | Bernes Medical Sleep and Neurological Private Center
Dr. Manvir Bhatia | Neurology Sleep Centre
György G. Németh | Hungarian Sleep Association
Ximena Alvarado | Hospital de Clínicas La Paz Bolivia
Dr. Laura Palagini | AIMS
The next World Sleep Day will take place on March 13, 2020. For more information on World Sleep Day, including how to become a delegate, visit www.worldsleepday.org.
Inaugural class of mentor/mentee program ISRTP
In 2019, World Sleep Society developed the International Sleep Research Training Program (ISRTP). The overarching goal of the program is to prepare sleep trainees from various countries throughout the world for future leadership in basic and/or clinical sleep research. ISRTP provides an opportunity for trainees, especially those in developing countries, to train at major academic institutions so they can acquire sleep research skills and observe management of patients with sleep disorders from experienced scientists and clinicians. In turn, the program will foster a cohort of future sleep research leaders who will keep the field of sleep research and medicine vibrant with their ideas, plans and goals. The trainees were selected and matched with sleep research mentors at host academic institutions.
Inaugural Class Selected & Matched
Leila Emami, MD (Iran) mentoring at University of Sydney: Woolcock Institute of Medical Research
Hyeon Jin Kim, MD (Republic of Korea) mentoring at Harvard University: Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School
Ximena Omlin, PhD (United Kingdom) mentoring at University of Oxford: Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute
Wenjing (Athena) Wang, MD (China) mentoring at Stanford University: Division of Sleep Medicine
Liyue (Adell) Xu, MD (China) mentoring at University of Pennsylvania: Center for Sleep & Circadian Neurobiology
The next class of Mentors and Mentees will be selected in January 2020. Learn more.
Sleep Medicine Exam
The Sleep Medicine Examination was available for qualified candidates during World Sleep 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. Candidates were given four hours to successfully complete the 150-question exam to be awarded the International Sleep Specialist designation. In 2019, 76 candidates passed the exam. 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.
| Recipient Name | Country | Year Awarded |
| Gyandeep Mangal | India | 2019 |
| Jaimin Mansuriya | India | 2019 |
| Sandeep Mittal | India | 2019 |
| Shweta Kanchan | India | 2019 |
| N Narendra Kumar | India | 2019 |
| Harish Bhatia | India | 2019 |
| Dhammdeep Kadam | India | 2019 |
| Anirudh Kumar | India | 2019 |
| Archita Joshi | India | 2019 |
| Sitthep Thanakitcharu | Thailand | 2019 |
| Pongsakorn Tanayapong | Thailand | 2019 |
| Apichart So-ngern | Thailand | 2019 |
| April Fatima Hernandez | Philippines | 2019 |
| Alfredo Yap | Philippines | 2019 |
| Woravipa Isara Sena Na Ayudhya | Thailand | 2019 |
| Jirada Sringean | Thailand | 2019 |
| Sirichai Kittichanteera | Thailand | 2019 |
| Hoang Minh | Vietnam | 2019 |
| Lily Diana Zainudin | Malaysia | 2019 |
| Thapanee Somboon | Thailand | 2019 |
| Akarachaid Pinidbunjerdkool | Thailand | 2019 |
| Somyos Wanichapol | Thailand | 2019 |
| Patricia Estrella | Philippines | 2019 |
| Tran Thanh Duy Linh | Vietnam | 2019 |
| Darunee Wiriyaporn | Thailand | 2019 |
| Duong DUY Khoa | Vietnam | 2019 |
| Hamdi Najman Achok | Malaysia | 2019 |
| Petcharat Saengthong | Thailand | 2019 |
| Rasintra Siriwat | Thailand | 2019 |
| Le Khac Bao | Vietnam | 2019 |
| Rimawati Tedjasukmana | Indonesia | 2019 |
| Maria Francia Alexadria Caparas-Manlagnit | Philippines | 2019 |
| Rozanah Abd Rahman | Malaysia | 2019 |
| Rose Anne Roque | Philippines | 2019 |
| Nguyen Huu Hoang | Vietnam | 2019 |
| Rashidah Yasin | Malaysia | 2019 |
| Woranart Ratanakorn | Thailand | 2019 |
| Beverly Carbonell | Philippines | 2019 |
| Likhit Khattiyawittayakun | Thailand | 2019 |
| Kittisak Sawanyawisuth | Thailand | 2019 |
| Myra Tan | Philippines | 2019 |
| Polporn Apiwattanasawee | Thailand | 2019 |
| Kugan Raman | Malaysia | 2019 |
| BUI Diem Khue | Vietnam | 2019 |
| Nurul Yaqeen Mohd Esa | Malaysia | 2019 |
| Nguyen Ngoc Phuong Thu | Vietnam | 2019 |
| Duong Minh Ngoc | Vietnam | 2019 |
| Mohd Ayzam Ahmad | Malaysia | 2019 |
| Jihye Oh | South Korea | 2019 |
| Vu Tran Thien Quan | Vietnam | 2019 |
| Atefeh Abedini | Iran | 2019 |
| Jens Acker | Switzerland | 2019 |
| Raj Bhui | Canada | 2019 |
| Jung-Ick Byun | South Korea | 2019 |
| José Carlos Moreira Salgueiro Carneiro | Portugal | 2019 |
| Chris Ching Wai Chan | Canada | 2019 |
| Maryam Gheraati | Iran | 2019 |
| Mohamed Rashid Goolam Hussain | Canada | 2019 |
| Sung Min Kim | South Korea | 2019 |
| Saurabh Mittal | India | 2019 |
| Nikolay Nikolaev | Bulgaria | 2019 |
| Pattaraporn Panyarath | Thailand | 2019 |
| Chawanont Pimolsri | Thailand | 2019 |
| Angélica Margarita Portillo Vásquez | Mexico | 2019 |
| Siva Raman | United States | 2019 |
| Orna Sever | Israel | 2019 |
| So-Hyun Ahn | South Korea | 2019 |
| Jun-Sang Sunwoo | South Korea | 2019 |
| Sakurako Tanno | Japan | 2019 |
| Kavitha Venkatanarayan | India | 2019 |
| Ravi Yadav | India | 2019 |
| Kamendra Singh Pawar | India | 2019 |
| Kamalesh Chakravarty | India | 2019 |
| Praveen Kumar Yadav | India | 2019 |
The Sleep Medicine Examination was available for qualified candidates during World Sleep 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. Exams were also hosted by the Indian Society for Sleep Research (ISSR) in New Delhi, India, South East Asian Regional Academy of Sleep Medicine (SEAASM) in Gurgaon, India and ASEAN Sleep Federation in Dalat City, Vietnam in 2019. Learn how to host an exam.
Membership
In 2019, World Sleep Society’s global representation was 14,000 sleep professionals, of that, 1,402 were individual memberships and 38 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 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.
Members Since 2019
- ASEAN Sleep Federation
- European Restless Legs Syndrome
- Minnesota Sleep Society
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine
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 2019, WSS endorsed more than 30 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
It’s an exciting time in sleep medicine and research! From 2018 through 2019, World Sleep Society’s following has seen steady growth. Our World Sleep Congress attendance increased 36% over our 2017 congress. Our digital mailing list saw an 19% increase in opt-ins. And in social media, WSS’s Twitter page grew 46% and Facebook followers increased over 45%. Join us today!
Past Annual Reports available online
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