Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award

The nomination period for 2025 awards is now closed. The nomination period for 2026 SRS Awards will open late August 2025. 

The Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award is presented to one or more individuals to recognize a specific, novel, and seminal research discovery that has significantly impacted the sleep and circadian research field.  This award honors a single scientist or up to three members of a scientific team most responsible for the design, conduct, and publication of the work.

Selection criteria generally include:

  • A specific major contribution that has been presented in either a single publication or multiple related publications.
  • Scientific advances recognized by this award may be basic, translational, clinical, or theoretical in nature.

Please note that while the nominator must be an SRS member, the nominee does not need to hold membership. For self-nominations, the individual must be a member of the SRS.

Questions? Please contact the SRS Coordinator at coordinator@srsnet.org.

2024 Recipient

David M. Raizen, MD, PhD
David M. Raizen, MD, PhD

“I would like to acknowledge my co-authors on the 2008 paper demonstrating sleep in C. elegans. They are John Zimmerman, Matthew Maycock, Uyen Ta, Young-jai You, Meera Sundaram, and Allan Pack. In addition to honoring me, this award by the Sleep Research Society recognizes the contributions of non-mammalian species toward the understanding of sleep. I thank the society for this recognition.”

Past Recipients

2023 – Joseph T. Bass, MD, PhD
2022 – Maiken Nedergaard, MD, DMSc
2021 – Colin E. Sullivan, PhD
2020 – Richard P. Allen, PhD
2019 – Frank A. J. L. Scheer, PhD; Steven A. Shea, PhD
2018 – Chiara Cirelli, MD, PhD
2017 – Niels C. Rattenborg, PhD
2016 – Luis de Lecea, PhD
2015 – Arthur J. Spielman, PhD
2014 – David Holtzman, MD
2013 – Amita Sehgal, PhD
2012 – Joseph Takahashi, PhD
2011 – Terry B. Young, PhD
2010 – Mark Mahowald, MD; Carlos Schenck, MD
2009 – David B. Rye, MD, PhD; Juliane Winkelmann, MD
2008 – Robert Y. Moore, MD, PhD; Friedrich K. Stephen, PhD; Irving Zucker, PhD
2007 – Eve Van Cauter, PhD
2006 – Emmanuel Mignot, MD, PhD; Masashi Yanagisawa, MD, PhD