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Tom F. Anders Seminar Series, formerly known as the Providence Sleep Research Interest Group (PSRIG), was formed in 1990 and provides an opportunity for scientists and clinicians to interact on a monthly basis for the scholarly exchange of ideas and information pertaining to the area of sleep and circadian rhythms. Historically, individuals from the surrounding areas of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and sometimes other parts of the country, participated in these monthly meetings. This year the series will be held virtually and we are thrilled to present a diverse lineup of speakers from various institutions both nationally and internationally, and to open this series to a wider audience. We hope to maintain an atmosphere that is informal, intimate, and sleep-sophisticated. TFASS seminars will be held via Zoom at 12pm on the 3rd Tuesday of each month during the academic year. Invited speakers represent diverse backgrounds and approaches in their study of sleep and chronobiological issues, including basic and clinical research. ZOOM INFORMATION Click here to Register for the Tom F. Anders Seminar Series. Add to calendar: 
If you would like to be added to the TFASS mailing list, please email Gina Mason at gina_mason@brown.edu. Dates for the 2024-2025 academic year are listed below and will continue to be updated regarding speakers and presentation topics. Missed a Session? Click below on the link to view previous TFASS videos. TFASS 2022-2023 Dr. Candice Alfano | How Poor Sleep Undermines the Socio-Emotional Competence of Youth: Filling in the Gaps Dr. Dylan Jackson & Dr. Alexander Testa | Police Contact & Sleep Patterns During Adolescence & Adulthood Salome Kurth, PhD | Infant's Sleep Neurophys. Beyond the Brain: Interactions c Bedtimes, Behavior, & the Gut Microbiome c Patricia A. Goodhines, PhD | Cannabis and Alcohol Use for Sleep Aid in College Students Mark Blumberg, PhD | Development Needs Sleep and Sleep Needs Development Joshua Gooley, PhD | Early School Start Times are Bad for Sleep, Attendance, and Grades Marcos Frank, PhD | Ontogenesis of Sleep Function and Regulation Ariel Neikrug, PhD | Characterizing Behavioral Activity Rhythms - Going Beyond Sleep & Wake Selena Nguyễn-Rodriguez, PhD, MPH | Influences on Sleep in Latinx Children Jessica Levenson, PhD | Advances in Developing, Testing, and Implementing Sleep Promotion Programs for Adolescents Marie-Rachelle Narcisse, PhD | Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Association between Adherence to Sleep Guidelines and Obesity among Adolescents in the United States: An Application of Time-Varying Effect Modeling Melissa Horger, PhD | Sleep and motor learning: Perspectives from leveraging innovative tools to promote more robust data collection Anthony Reffi, PhD | Identifying Sleep-Related Risk Factors for PTSD and Their Underlying Mechanisms Rebecca Gomez, PhD | The effects of sleep on learning and memory in very young children Peter Achermann, PhD | A historical perspective on some concepts in sleep research Michelle Garrison, PhD, MPH | Late Night Media Use and Sleep: Harm Reduction Approaches in the Context of Developing Self-Regulation From Childhood to Emerging Adulthood Liat Tikotzky, PhD | Sleep in Infancy and the Family System TFASS 2023-2024 Mona El-Sheikh, PhD | Sleep and Development in Youth: Sociocultural Considerations Brandon L. Roberts, PhD | How maternal circadian disruption impacts sleep and PFC function in adult offspring AJ Schwichtenberg, PhD | The Roles of Sleep in Autism Spectrum Disorder Stephen P. Becker, PhD | Sleep in Adolescents with ADHD: Recent Advances and New Directions Jessica Hamilton, PhD | Leveraging technology to understand sleep and social media use in adolescent suicide prevention Megan Petrov, PhD | In Pursuit of Childhood Obesity Prevention: Early Pathways through Sleep, Feeding, and the Gut Microbiome Valerie Crabtree, PhD | Sleep Disruption in Youth with Chronic Illness Melissa Nevarez-Brewster | Sleep in Pregnancy: A Unique and Understudied Prenatal Process with Intergenerational Consequences **non-CME event** Douglas Teti, PhD | Prenatal Trauma History in Parents and Parent-Infant Sleep in the Early Postpartum 
September 17, 2024 Dean Beebe, PhD., ABPP Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Director of the Neuropsychology Program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Topic: Sleepy, surly, spacey, sedentary, sugared-up, scary on the road, somatic/sore, and a bit less smart: one investigator’s journey toward understanding the importance of adolescent sleep. Adolescents notoriously sleep less than is recommended on school nights and have a reputation for wide swings in sleep timing. This talk summarizes the major findings to date from a research program on the impact of those sleep patterns, balancing experimental methods with real-world conditions and outcomes. Amongst other things, attendees will learn whether the title refers sleep deprived adolescents, the investigator, or both. In addition to published findings confirming the benefits of longer sleep for adolescents, this talk will present tantalizing preliminary evidence that those benefits may be impacted by when adolescents sleep. Missed this TFASS? Click here to watch Dr. Beebe's presentation! back to top 
October 15, 2024 Bengi Baran, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa Topic: Sleep and Psychopathology in Youth It is widely accepted that sleep disruption accompanies most major psychiatric disorders. Despite this connection, it still remains a challenge to elucidate the causal role sleep plays in the emergence or exacerbation of psychopathology symptoms. In this presentation, I will introduce some new research initiatives and discuss emerging findings that examine (1) thalamocortical circuit disruption in early-course psychosis, (2) the effects of NREM sleep oscillations on anxiety and negative affect, and (3) social media use and sleep health in youth. Missed this TFASS? Click here to watch Dr. Baran's presentation! back to top 
November 19, 2024 Kelton Minor Data Scientist, Columbia University Data Science Institute Topic: Sleep in a Warming World: An Anthropogenic Experiment Humankind flourished during a period characterized by a relatively stable climate. In recent centuries human industrial activities have radically transformed the Earth system and demonstrably altered the climate, with accelerated global warming already apparent and expected to grow as a function of society's emissions decisions. While sleep health is formative for human development, functioning, and well-being throughout our lives, the putative influence of human-induced environmental changes on sleep remains poorly understood. Notably, nighttime temperatures are climbing faster than daytime temperatures in most populated regions due to global warming. For the global majority, human exposure to nighttime heat is further exacerbated by urbanization and the resultant urban heat island effect. While laboratory studies have historically shown that extreme temperatures can disrupt sleep, the real-world consequences of rising nighttime temperatures on sleep health remain underexplored. In his Thomas F. Anders seminar, Dr. Minor will shed light on recent ecological evidence from the first global study of the effects of nighttime warming on human sleep, the findings from a new systematic review of the literature, and a forthcoming global climate and sleep indicator. Cumulatively, this body of evidence indicates a clear link between higher nighttime temperatures and diminished sleep quality and quantity around the world. Research using new quasi-experimental designs further highlights that this relationship is causal in nature. The adverse effects of heat on sleep appear more pronounced during peak heat periods, among vulnerable groups, and in the hottest climates. Moreover, the current evidence points to a limited capacity for human adaptation to these warmer conditions over short to medium time horizons, highlighting the risk that climate change and urban heat islands pose to our sleep and, consequently, to broader aspects of human health, learning and well-being separately shown to suffer during hot weather. Dr. Minor will also emphasize critical gaps in research and call for increased collaborations between sleep researchers, climate scientists, and the climate impacts research community. Such transdisciplinary work is urgently needed to assess and address this "anthropogenic experiment" at a scale commensurate with its global footprint, aiming to safeguard the sleep of both current and future generations. Missed this TFASS? Click here to watch Dr. Minor's presentation! back to top 
December 17, 2024 Ariel Williamson, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, The Ballmer Institute for Children's Behavioral Health Topic: Initial Outcomes of a Family-Centered and Health Equity-Informed Behavioral Sleep Intervention Behavioral sleep problems, including insomnia symptoms (e.g., difficulty falling/staying asleep) and poor sleep health (e.g., insufficient sleep), impact up to 30% of toddlers and preschoolers and are associated with adverse developmental outcomes. Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic sleep health disparities, due to differential exposure to adverse social and environmental factors, also begin in early childhood. Despite a robust evidence base for treating early childhood behavioral sleep problems, most interventions have been tested with non-Hispanic/Latinx White and/or more socioeconomically advantaged families. In addition, few behavioral sleep interventions have been tested outside of research settings and in accessible contexts, such as pediatric primary care. These clinical research gaps raise questions about whether adaptations are needed to intervention content and delivery strategies to enhance the acceptability, cultural humility, and efficacy of behavioral sleep interventions in primary care. In this presentation, Dr. Ariel Williamson will summarize the results of her NIH-funded project (K23HD094905) which adapted and evaluated Sleep Well!, a brief behavioral sleep intervention, with young children of primarily African American/Black (Black) and/or lower-socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds presenting to primary care. After describing the first phases of adaptations to Sleep Well!, Dr. Williamson will present initial findings from a recently completed randomized controlled trial comparing the telehealth-delivered intervention to enhanced usual care in a sample of 102 caregiver-child dyads (48% girls, M age= 2.5 years, 70% non-Hispanic/Latinx Black; 96% mothers, 36% high school education, 41% 125% of US poverty line) referred by their primary care clinicians. Future directions for intervention adaptation, evaluation, and scaling will be discussed. Throughout this talk, Dr. Williamson will highlight the community-engaged research approaches and health equity-informed implementation science principles used to guide this research. Missed this TFASS? Click here to watch Dr. Williamson's presentation! back to top 
January 21, 2025 Lauren Asarnow, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco Topic: Misalignment Between Circadian Biology and Sleep/Wake Behavior as a Mediator of Depression Improvement in Adolescents with Depression and an Evening Chronotype An evening circadian preference is associated with higher rates of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The presentation will discuss study aims to a) test the effectiveness of a cognitive behavioral sleep intervention (Transdiagnostic Sleep and Circadian Intervention; TranS-C) in a sample of adolescents with an evening circadian preference and MDD and b) evaluate improved alignment between circadian biology and sleep-wake behavior as a potential mechanism in the relationship between sleep and depression symptom improvement. back to top 
February 18, 2025 Sarah K. England, Ph.D. Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Medicine, Director, Center for Reproductive Health Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine Topic: Chronodisruption – A Potential Risk for Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes. Studies describing the effect of disrupting daily rhythms on gestation length has been conflicting, typically due to the ways in which rhythms have been measured. Surveys and sleep diaries are easily implementable, however provide a limited timeframe of measurement and subject to recall bias. The rising use of wearable devices for both research and clinical applications has resulted in efforts to quantify sleep-wake patterns and their variability. We chose to compare multiple metrics of rest-activity variability. Our goal was to explore whether disruptions in maternal rhythms are associated with preterm birth. back to top March 18, 2025 Vernon Grant, Ph.D. Assistant Research Professor, Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity, Montana State University Topic: To Be Announced back to top April 15, 2025 Kate Simon, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine Topic: To Be Announced back to top May 20, 2025 Anastacia Y. Kudinova, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University and Bradley Hospital Topic: To Be Announced back to top |