The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has honored three women for their outstanding contributions to the field of sleep medicine. They will be recognized during the plenary session of the SLEEP 2025 annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Seattle in June.
Carol Rosen will be the recipient of the Distinguished Leadership Award. She is a professor emerita at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland and a past board member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. She taught pediatric pulmonary medicine at Baylor, Yale and CWRU, where she led the Rainbow Babies & Children’s sleep medicine program for over 20 years. Her clinical and research interests include diagnostic testing for sleep-disordered breathing and managing pediatric sleep disorders. Dr. Rosen is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she majored in biology. She earned her medical doctorate at the University of Illinois Chicago.
Reena Mehra was named the winner of the Excellence in Research Award. She is being recognized for research that has directly informed and shaped clinical practice in cardiovascular sleep medicine, with a primary focus on atrial fibrillation. She is the division head of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine and the A. Bruce Montgomery, MD, American Lung Association Endowed Chair in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Washington. Previously, she directed the sleep research program at the Cleveland Clinic, advancing large-scale, data-driven scientific innovations. Dr. Mehra is a graduate of Youngstown State University in Ohio, where she majored in biology and chemistry. She holds a master’s degree in clinical research from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and a medical doctorate from Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown.
Ilene Rosen, an associate professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will receive the Excellence in Education Award. She serves as associate dean for graduate medical education and vice president for graduate medical education at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. A past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, she played a key role in developing competency-based training pathways for sleep medicine. Her research focuses on innovative sleep medicine education and expanding access to care. Dr. Rosen is a graduate of Duke University, where she majored in neuroscience. She holds a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology and a medical doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.