Editors
Dr. Michael Perlis Ph. D
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania
Director, Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program, University of Pennsylvania
Associate Professor, School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Perlis is internationally known for his work in the area of Behavioral Sleep Medicine (BSM). He is a coauthor of the first text book in this field and he is the senior author of a published CBT-I treatment manual and a larger text summarizing all BSM treatments. The CBT-I manual (Cognitive Behavioral Treatment of Insomnia: A Session-by-Session Guide (New York: Springer/Verlag) has been translated into Spanish, Italian, Korean, and Chinese. In addition, his program offers an Advanced CBT-I Course (also taught by Drs. ‘Posner and Ellis), individual and group supervision, a BSM mini-fellowship, and (via CBT-I Educational Products) a video mock case vignette DVD.
Dr. Perlis has published, as an author or co-author, more than 150 articles and chapters on sleep research related topics and he serves on the editorial boards of Sleep, the Journal of Sleep Research, the journal of Sleep Medicine Research, the journal of Behavioral Sleep Medicine, and the journal of Health Psychology. Dr. Perlis has also served as a member, or chair, of several committees and task forces of the Sleep Research Society and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and he was the assistant chair for the training program of the SRS for five years. Finally, Dr. Perlis was one of the five organizing and founding members of the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine (SBSM). He also served as the SBSM’s first president (2010-2011).
Dr. Perlis’s educational activities also include his service as a mentor to 95 trainees including 24 junior or peer faculty, 18 interns or post-doctoral fellows, 6 medical students, 12 graduate or post-masters students, and 35 undergraduates or post-baccalaureates. Most notable among his prior mentees (i.e., those who have gone on to independent research careers) are Sean Drummond PhD, Kenneth Wright PhD, Michael Smith PhD, Carla Jungquist PhD, Wilfred Pigeon PhD, Sheila Garland, PhD and Michael Grander, PhD.
Dr. Donn Posner Ph.D
Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Stanford University School of Medicine
Clinical/Research Psychologist, Palo Alto Institute for Research
Dr. Donn Posner is currently an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at Stanford University School of medicine and a clinical/research psychologist at the Palo Alto VA. He is working on a grant, which hopes to clarify the relative efficacy of each of the components of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) and for whom each piece works best.
Prior to his role at Sanford and the VA he spent 25 years serving as the Director of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Rhode Island and Miriam Hospitals, and was also the Director of Behavioral Sleep Medicine for the Sleep Disorders Center of Lifespan Hospitals. Finally he was a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University. In his years at Brown he served as the primary supervisor for a rotation of the Behavioral Medicine track of the clinical psychology internship, which focused on the assessment and treatment of Sleep and Anxiety Disorders.
Dr. Posner is one of the authors of Cognitive Behavioral Treatment of Insomnia: A Session-by-Session Guide (New York: Springer/Verlag). The book is intended for clinical trainees, and non-insomnia sleep specialists, as well as more experienced clinicians from outside the sleep medicine field, who wish to learn how to provide empirically validated cognitive behavioral treatment for insomnia (CBT-I). He also co-authored Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Those with Depression, which is a clinical guide for clinicians working with insomnia in the context of mood disorders.
Dr. Posner was a consultant for the Veteran’s Administration roll out of CBT-I and continues to consult with clinical psychology programs and sleep centers assisting them on how to set up a Behavioral Sleep Medicine program and how to effectively deliver these treatments. He continues to consult around the country helping clinicians develop behavioral sleep medicine programs and to make CBT-I a part of their clinical practices.
Dr. Posner is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and is one of the first certified behavioral sleep medicine specialists recognized by that group. He is also a founding member of the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine and received the society’s Peter Hauri Career Distinguished Achievement Award.