New director to lead sleep research center

By Doug Nadvornick, College of Medical Sciences communications

VanDongen-HSPOKANE, Wash. – Hans Van Dongen, a leading authority in human sleep and performance, has been named director of Washington State University’s Sleep and Performance Research Center.

The center brings together the cutting-edge research of 11 core faculty and six affiliated faculty, with another five or six researchers scheduled to join the core faculty this year. Faculty are recognized as leaders in their field both nationally and internationally.

Since it was launched in 2008, the center has brought more than $35 million in extramural funding to WSU and produced more than 350 scientific publications. Faculty are active in education, outreach and the translation of science to policy and federal rulemaking. Nearly 100 graduate students and postdoctoral trainees have received their training through the center.

“I feel privileged to be part of such an extraordinarily accomplished and influential group of researchers and to have been elected as the new director,” said Van Dongen.

The center brings together researchers from six different WSU colleges. Ties with the recently founded College of Medical Sciences are particularly strong.

“The Sleep and Performance Research Center is a cornerstone of WSU’s growing programs in the health sciences,” said Ken Roberts, acting dean of the College of Medical Sciences. “It serves as a model for the power and impact of collaborative research and education.”

The center covers the spectrum from theoretical and basic research to applied laboratory and field studies. Basic research includes the functions of sleep, the importance of sleep for metabolism in body and brain, and the role of the biological clock. Applied research includes the effects of sleep deprivation on attention and decision making, as well as the impact of shift work on truck drivers, pilots and police officers.

Van Dongen, who managed the center’s sleep laboratory on the WSU Spokane campus, was nominated unanimously by faculty to be the next director. He succeeds founding director Gregory Belenky, who remains at WSU Spokane as a research professor.