Annual Report 2022

Letter from the President

On behalf of the Governing Council, I offer a sincere “thank you” to our individual and society members who enabled this success. I also wish to give a special “thank you” to Birgit Högl and the previous Governing Council for their steady leadership during unsteady times.

In the last year, we have held an in-person international congress, advocated for sleep health in local communities across over 50 countries, and launched a new sleep medicine education program. In addition, World Sleep Society has developed a Global Sleep Health Task Force that is advocating for and helping to develop methods for collecting sleep data coherently on an international scale. We have merely planted the seed of a long-term project, but the goal is worthy and certainly achievable within the power of our strong international sleep and circadian community, Associate Society members, and other nonprofit organizations. I am excited to see how the project grows.

And so we come to 2023, and the work continues. I look forward to seeing you at World Sleep 2023 in Rio de Janeiro this October 21-25, 2023. Science submission is now fully open for symposia and abstracts, so I encourage you to submit a symposium proposal by February 28 and abstract proposals by June 30, 2023!

On behalf of World Sleep Society, I would like to wish you and your families a very healthy and happy new year.   

Sincerely,

Phyllis Zee, MD, PhD
President of World Sleep Society

Governing Council

Annual Report Highlights

Membership
World Sleep Society launched a new membership website at member.worldsleepsociety.org. This new website now used for all membership dues, event registrations, store purchases, and members-only content. Membership now stands at 926 individuals and 47 Associate Societies.

World Sleep 2022 in Rome
The 16^th World Sleep congress was a successful return to in-person gatherings after the virtual meetings of 2020 and 2021. Held over March 11 through 16 in Rome, World Sleep 2022 brought over 2300 attendees together for courses, scientific presentations, and networking.

World Sleep Academy: A New Initiative from World Sleep Society
World Sleep Academy, an online education program in sleep medicine, launched in September. The first class attracted 38 students from 26 countries, getting this new Academy off to a strong start.

Membership

At the end of 2022, the membership of World Sleep Society stands at 878 individuals and 47 sleep societies around the world. World Sleep Society welcomed three new Associate Society Members in 2022: Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine, Sleep Medicine Society of Kuwait, and the Moroccan Society of Sleep and Wakefulness. At the end of the year, World Sleep Society also launched a new membership website at member.worldsleepsociety.org. The new membership website is now used for all membership renewals, event registrations, and store purchases.

World Sleep Congress

Working with the Italian Association of Sleep Medicine, World Sleep Society organized the 16^th World Sleep congress, which was held in Rome over March 11 through 16. World Sleep 2022 in Rome was a successful return to in-person meetings after the virtual meetings of 2020 and 2021. In addition to featuring the best and latest sleep science and medicine, the 16^th World Sleep congress also achieved other important goals like the election of our new board and officers. 

World Sleep Academy

World Sleep Academy is a new online education program that launched in September 2022. World Sleep Academy provides high-quality sleep medicine education to health care workers who are not sleep specialists: family physicians, nurses, community health workers, and more. A special focus is placed on providing this education opportunity to health care workers in places typically underserved by sleep medicine. The first class launched with a highly diverse cohort of 38 students representing 26 countries. Many of these students received scholarship support from World Sleep Society.

World Sleep Academy is made possible by the excellent work of our contributing writers, lecturers, and teaching assistants, and we sincerely thank them all for sharing their knowledge and expertise with our students!

International Sleep Research Training Program

The International Sleep Research Training Program (ISRTP) is continuing its fourth year, combining individual mentorship in sleep research with regular small-group workshops in research development, scientific writing, and leadership. Twenty-seven mentees have now participated in ISRTP since its inception. While the travel restrictions of the last several years have impacted the ability of many mentees to travel to their host sites, World Sleep Society continues to support ISRTP and is excited to welcome the next class of mentees. Applications are now open for the next class, which begins July 1, 2023.

Mentor Sites
Charité University Hospital Berlin
Flinders University
Harvard University
King’s College London
Monash University
National Institute of Medicine and Health – NeuroDiderot, Université Paris Cité
Peking University People’s Hospital
Stanford University
St. John’s Medical College Hospital
University Medical Center Freiburg
University of Oxford
University of Pennsylvania
University of Sydney
University of Tsukuba

International Sleep Specialist Exam

Two sittings of the International Sleep Specialist Exam took place in 2022: one in New Delhi hosted by the Indian Society for Sleep Research and another in Rome during the World Sleep congress. Twenty individuals passed the exam, earning the International Sleep Specialist designation. Congratulations to all the recipients!

The exam is also undergoing a review and update process to ensure that it remains an accurate and dependable assessment of sleep medicine knowledge. If you want to get involved as a question writer or reviewer, you can contact World Sleep Society at any time to inquire about opportunities

World Sleep Day

World Sleep Day 2022 took place at a special time this year – two days after the end of the World Sleep congress! Emphasizing the importance of quality sleep on mental and emotional health, the theme of World Sleep Day 2022 was “Quality Sleep. Sound Mind. Happy World.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeMNc7b93jY

Check out this video of Delegates from around the world wishing a happy World Sleep Day and saying the slogan in their home languages. Thank you to the Delegates and activity organizers who worked around the world to raise awareness of sleep health!

Healthier Sleep Magazine

Three issues of Healthier Sleep were published in 2022, and plans are moving forward for another year of publication both in print and online in 2023. One of the highlights of 2022 for Healthier Sleep was the special issue on Travel and Sleep Health, published on World Sleep Day in partnership with a large hospitality group that distributed the edition in print around their properties worldwide. You can find this special issue online today.

Christian Guilleminault Award

This year World Sleep Society opened up the application process and period to allow for more young investigators working in sleep to apply for travel grants from the Christian Guilleminault Young Investigator Endowment Fund. There are now three review periods during each calendar year with deadlines of April 30, August 31, and December 31. After each period, submissions will be reviewed and travel grants distributed as determined by the review committee. Up to six are available per year.

We are pleased to share that four CG Young Investigator Awards were distributed in 2022. Congratulations to the recipients, and don’t forget to share the application with your young investigator colleagues!

Matteo Cesari in recognition of “Automatic scoring of sleep stages with artificial intelligence and its use for differentiation of disorders of hypersomnolence” presented at Sleep Europe 2022 in Athens

Mariana Fernandes in recognition of “Cerebrospinal-fluid biomarkers and blood-brain barrier alteration may be useful to predict the phenoconversion of patients with idiopathic/isolated REM sleep behaviour disorder” presented at World Sleep 2022 in Rome

Laetita Gaspar in recognition of “Obstructive Sleep Apnea clock (dys)regulation: potential applications in OSA diagnosis and treatment?” presented at Sleep Europe 2022 in Athens

Sarah Schoch in recognition of “Interactions between sleep and gut bacteria in healthy developing infants” presented at World Sleep 2022 in Rome

The CG Award is made possible by generous donors. Contribute to the CG Young Investigator Endowment Fund to support young investigators in the field of sleep.

International Sleep Medicine Guidelines

The International Sleep Medicine Guidelines Committee continued its work in 2022, organizing into seven task forces to write or endorse guidelines for the practice of sleep medicine in a global context. The seven task forces are Hypersomnia, Insomnia, SRBD, Parasomnia A, Parasomnia B, Pediatric Melatonin, and School Start Time.

Guideline papers are under development and expected to be published in Sleep Medicine over the course of 2023.

Current guidelines under review for endorsement and commentary include:

Cesari M, Heidbreder A, St Louis EK, et al. Video-polysomnography procedures for diagnosis of rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and the identification of its prodromal stages: guidelines from the International RBD Study Group. Sleep. 2022;45(3):zsab257. doi:10.1093/sleep/zsab257

Edinger JD, Arnedt JT, Bertisch SM, et al. Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder in adults: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline. J Clin Sleep Med. 2021;17(2):255-262. doi:10.5664/jcsm.8986

Maski K, Trotti LM, Kotagal S, et al. Treatment of central disorders of hypersomnolence: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline. J Clin Sleep Med. 2021;17(9):1881-1893. doi:10.5664/jcsm.9328

Morgenthaler TI, Auerbach S, Casey KR, et al. Position Paper for the Treatment of Nightmare Disorder in Adults: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Position Paper. J Clin Sleep Med. 2018;14(6):1041-1055. Published 2018 Jun 15. doi:10.5664/jcsm.7178

Randerath W, Verbraecken J, de Raaff CAL, et al. European Respiratory Society guideline on non-CPAP therapies for obstructive sleep apnoea. Eur Respir Rev. 2021;30(162):210200. Published 2021 Nov 30. doi:10.1183/16000617.0200-2021