Mary A. Carskadon, PhD, is director of the Bradley Hospital Sleep Research Laboratory; director of the COBRE Center for Sleep and Circadian Rhythms in Child and Adolescent Mental Health; and a diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine. She is an expert in sleep patterns, particularly in children and adolescents.
Dr. Carskadon is a past president of the Sleep Research Society and organized the Women in Sleep Research interest group of the Sleep Research Society. She is a co-founder of the Northeastern Sleep Society and has served on the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research advisory board and as a member of the Development and Behavior Working Group of the National Children's Study. She is a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors, National Space Biomedical Research Institute. Dr. Carskadon is an associate editor of Behavioral Sleep Medicine.
Dr. Carskadon received her bachelor's degree in psychology from Gettysburg College and her doctoral degree with distinction in neuro- and biobehavioral sciences from Stanford University, with a specialty in sleep research.
Research Interests
Dr. Carskadon's research focus includes circadian rhythms and puberty; changes in how sleep pressure functions in adolescents; the role of morning-type or evening-type preference on sleep behaviors; sleep loss and genetic predictors of depressed mood in college students; and sleep patterns and food intake. Her research includes examining associations of sleep regulatory mechanisms to sleep/wake behavior of children, adolescents, and young adults and her findings have raised public health issues regarding consequences of insufficient sleep in adolescents and concerns about early school start times. Her research has also examined the genetic contributions to these processes and the association of chronic sleep restriction with development of depressed mood.
Recent research has also focused on circadian rhythms in adolescents as a function of puberty; the role of circadian phase preference on daytime sleepiness patterns; and the influence of alcohol use and the history of parental alcohol use on sleep patterns and circadian rhythms of young people.
Dr. Carskadon has been featured in numerous news stories and programs, including Discovery Health, PBS "Frontline," and programs of the BBC and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She has written many scientific papers and is an elected fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Honors
Sigma Xi, Scientific Research Society, elected to Brown University Chapter 1994.
Nathaniel Kleitman Distinguished Service Award "…to honor service in the field of sleep research and sleep disorders medicine, especially generous and altruistic efforts in the areas of administration, public relations, and legislation," American Sleep Disorders Association, 1991.
Distinguished Alumni Award, Gettysburg College, 1995.
Doctor of Sciences, Honorary Degree, Gettysburg College, 1999.
President, Sleep Research Society, 1999-2000.
Lifetime Achievement Award, National Sleep Foundation, 2003.
Mark O. Hatfield Public Policy Award, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2003.
Benchmarks of Excellence Award for Academic Excellence (to the Sleep Laboratory), Bradley Hospital, 2003.
Outstanding Educator Award of the Sleep Research Society, 2005 [Award named the Mary A. Carskadon Outstanding Educator Award.]
Distinguished Scientist Award of the Sleep Research Society, 2007.
Fellow, Association for Psychological Science (APS), 2007.
Publications
Tarokh, L. and Carskadon, M.A. Sleep in adolescents. In Squire, L.R. (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, volume 8. Academic Press, Oxford, pp 1015-1022, 2009. Article re-printed in R.
Stickgold and M. Walker (Eds.), The Neuroscience of Sleep. Oxford: Elsevier, 2009. Carskadon, M.A. and Tarokh, L. Sleep in child and adolescent development. In Klockars, M. and Porkka-Heiskanen, T. (Eds.) The Many Aspects of Sleep. Acta Gyllenbergiana VIII. Helsinki: The Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation, pp 89-100, 2009.
Carskadon, M.A. Maturation of processes regulating sleep in adolescents. In Marcus, C.L., Carroll, J.L., Donnelly, D.F., and Loughlin, G.M. (Eds.), Sleep in Children, Second Edition. Informa Healthcare USA, New York, pp 95-114, 2008.
Sørensen, E., Carskadon, M.A., and Ursin, R. Sleep across the life cycle. In Butkov N and Lee-Chiong TL (eds.). Fundamentals of Sleep Technology. Lipincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, pp 33-39, 2007.
Jenni, O.G. and Carskadon, M.A. Sleep behavior and sleep regulation from infancy through adolescence: Normative aspects. In Jenni, O.G. and Carskadon, M.A. (Guest Eds.) Sleep Medicine Clinics: Sleep in Children and Adolescents. Philadelphia. W.B. Saunders (Elsevier), Philadephia, pp. 321-329, 2007.
Rupp, T.L. and Carskadon, M.A. Sleep. In Feinstein S (ed) The Praeger Handbook of Learning and the Brain. Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT, pp 447-452, 2006.
Afifi L, Kushida C.A., Carskadon M.A. Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT). In: Kushida CA (ed.), Sleep Deprivation, Vol. 2: Clinical Issues, Pharmacology, and Sleep Loss Effects, Marcel Dekker, pp. 11-24, 2005.
Carskadon, M.A. Sleep and circadian rhythms in children and adolescents: Implications for athletic performance of young people. Clin Sports Med 24:319-328, 2005. PMID: 15892926
Jenni, O.J. and Carskadon, M.A. Infants to adolescents. In Opp MR (ed), SRS Basics of Sleep Guide. Sleep Research Society, Westchester, IL, pp 11-20, 2005.
Wolfson, A.R. and Carskadon, M.A. A survey of factors influencing high school start times. NASSP Bulletin 89 (642):47-66, 2005.
Jenni, O.G., Van Reen, E., and Carskadon, M.A. Regional differences of the sleep electroencephalogram in adolescents. J. Sleep Res.14 (2): 141-147, 2005.
Taylor, D.J., Jenni, O.G., Acebo, C., and Carskadon, M.A. Sleep tendency during extended wakefulness: Insights into adolescent sleep regulation. J. Sleep Res.14 (3): 239-244, 2005.
Arnedt, J.T., Owens, J., Crouch, M., Stahl, J., and Carskadon, M.A. Neurobehavioral performance of residents after heavy night call vs after alcohol ingestion. JAMA 294 (9): 1025-1033, 2005.
Fallone, G., Acebo, C., Seifer, R., Carskadon, M.A. Experimental restriction of sleep opportunity in children: Effects on teacher ratings. Sleep 28 (12): 1561-1567, 2005.
Jenni, O.J., Achermann, P., and Carskadon, M.A. Homeostatic sleep regulation in adolescents. Sleep 28 (11): 446-1454, 2005.
Acebo, C., Sadeh, A., Seifer, R., Tzischinsky, O., Hafer, A., and Carskadon, M.A. Sleep/wake patterns derived from activity monitoring and maternal report for healthy 1- to 5-year-old children. Sleep 28 (12):1568-1577, 2005.