Dr. Thomas Scammell is a Professor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Boston Children’s Hospital. He is a widely respected physician-scientist who has lectured both nationally and internationally on narcolepsy and the neurobiology of sleep and wakefulness. His current research interests include identification of how loss of orexin signaling results in sleepiness and cataplexy; interactions of sleep and pain; sleep disorders in Prader-Willi Syndrome; and the causes of sleepiness after traumatic brain injury. Dr. Scammell serves as an ad hoc reviewer for New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Neurology, Nature, Cell, and Neuron, and was a Deputy Editor of SLEEP. He is a member of the International Classification of Sleep Disorders Task Force and a former member of the Sleep Research Society Board of Directors and the Program Committee for the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
Michael S. Aldrich Commemorative Lecture in Sleep Medicine
The annual Aldrich Lecture honors Michael S. Aldrich, M.D. (1949-2000). In 1985, Dr. Aldrich founded the first University of Michigan Sleep Disorders Center, in the Department of Neurology. He made seminal contributions to the development of a new medical field that has grown to have substantial public health impact. Widely known for his work on narcolepsy, Dr. Aldrich was a consummate clinician, educator, and researcher. The Aldrich Lecture celebrates his vision and achievement, which laid the foundations for one of the most highly respected sleep medicine programs nationally.
