The American Academy of Sleep Medicine was established in 1975 to guide the development of the field. Sleep Medicine did not receive full recognition as a medical sub-specialty by the American Medical Association until 1996.

Through its development as a field of scientific inquiry in the academic environment, the practice of Sleep Medicine only recently emerged as a fledgling specialty within medicine. The field has expanded rapidly as disease prevention has become the focus of modern medicine. Several venues exist for international and national conferences, the largest being the American Professional Sleep Society meeting. Recently, this conference attracted over 6000 sleep researchers and clinicians to Baltimore in 2008 eager to present their findings and learn the latest discoveries in the field.

The next meeting will be in Seattle in June 2009.

• Our Vision for Sleep Medicine
• Robert Sutton
• Sigurjon Kristjansson
• Core Values