In Memory of Sleep Pioneer Dr. William C. Dement

Sleep pioneer Dr. William C. Dement died on June 17, 2020, according to a report from the Sleep Research Society (SRS). As a researcher, clinician, educator, advocate, and mentor, Dement’s legacy extends across the sleep community and beyond. 

At Stanford University, where he spent nearly his entire career, Dement opened one of the world’s first sleep disorders clinics in 1970. During an extraordinary time of discovery that started in the 1950s, Dement and colleagues described the human sleep cycle and its sleep stages in the landmark paper, “Cyclic variations in EEG during sleep and their relation to eye movements, body motility, and dreaming.”

SRS concludes: The legacy of William “Bill” Dement, the “Father of Sleep Medicine,” is the sleep medicine subspecialty, the thousands of people who have dedicated their careers to improving health through better sleep, the countless lives saved through the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders, and the recognition that “drowsiness is red alert.”

Watch these videos, lectures, and interviews to learn more about Dement’s extraordinary career in the fields of sleep medicine and sleep and circadian research.

Source: Sleep Research Society