William C. Dement Seminar Series
The Seminar Series takes place on the third Friday of each month at 12pm (unless otherwise noted).
Upcoming Seminars
How sleep shapes the infant brain
Friday, January 16th, 2026 at 12pm PST
Mark S. Blumberg, Ph.D.
University of Iowa Distinguished Chair, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
DIFFERENT Location: Clark Center Room S360 (318 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305)
Zoom link (if unable to attend in person): https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Molecular and Circuit Mechanisms Mediating Sleep Homeostasis
Friday, March 20th, 2026 at 12pm PST
Mark Wu, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Location: TBD
Zoom link (if unable to attend in person): https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Metabolic Drivers of Sleep Disruption in Alzheimer’s Disease
Friday, May 15th, 2026 at 12pm PST
Shannon L. Macauley, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Dept of Physiology, University of Kentucky
Adjunct Associate Professor, Dept of Physiology & Pharmacology, Wake Forest School of Med
Location: TBD
Zoom link (if unable to attend in person): https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Past Seminars
Two truths: Subjective and objective measures of sleep and alertness
Friday, December 12th, 2025 at 12pm PST (NOTE ALTERNATE DATE)
Elizabeth B. Klerman, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Neurology, Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Research Investigator, Division of Neurophysiology, Sleep Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital
Physician, Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Director, Analytic and Modeling Unit, Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Location: Clark Center Auditorium (318 Discovery Walk, Palo Alto, CA 94304)
The brain cognitive workload during sleep
Friday, November 21st, 2025 at 12pm PST
Azahara Oliva, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University
Location: Clark Center Auditorium (318 Discovery Walk, Palo Alto, CA 94304)
Multi-‘Omics in Human Brain Reveals Sleep and Circadian Dysfunction in Opioid Addiction
Friday, October 17th, 2025 at 12pm PST
Ryan Logan, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobiology at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
NEW Location: Clark Center Auditorium (318 Discovery Walk, Palo Alto, CA 94304)
Sleep loss in adolescents as a window into neurodevelopmental disorders
Friday, September 19th, 2025 at 12pm PST
Jared M Saletin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University
Associate Director of E.P. Bradley Hospital Sleep Research Laboratory
Sleep in the wild: cyberinfrastructure, visualization, and biosensors to assess physiology and behavior of non-model organisms in their natural environment
Friday, May 16th, 2025 at 12pm PST
Jessica Kendall-Bar, Ph.D.
Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego
Location: James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Sleep Disturbances & Chronic Pain: The role of sex and inflammatory resolution physiology
Friday, April 18th, 2025 at 12pm PST
Monika Haack, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Neurology, Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Location: James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Orexin/hypocretin as a common mediator of sleep disturbances and drug motivation during cocaine abstinence
Friday, March 21st, 2025 at 12pm PST
Morgan H. James, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Location: James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Insomnia and Inflammation: A Two Hit Model of Depression Risk, Treatment, and Prevention
Friday, February 28th, 2025 at 12pm PST
Michael R. Irwin, M.D.
Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
Norman Cousins Endowed Life Chair
Director, Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology
Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
Director, Mindful Awareness Research Center
UCLA Geffen School of Medicine
Location: James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Sleep regulation and function during development: insights from flies
Friday, January 17th, 2025 at 12pm PST
Matthew S. Kayser, MD, PhD
Karl. E Rickels Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Director, Psychiatry Residency Research Track (EPSP)
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Location: James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Brainstem dynamics regulating REM sleep
Friday, December 13th, 2024 at 12pm PST
Franz Weber, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
Perelman School of Medicine,
University of Pennsylvania
Location: James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Circadian clocks, glia, and Alzheimer’s Disease
Friday, November 15th, 2024 at 12pm PST
Erik Musiek, MD, PhD
Charlotte & Paul Hagemann Professor of Neurology
Washington Univ. School of Medicine
DIFFERENT LOCATION: Gunn Rotunda (E241), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Illuminating circadian circuits
Friday, October 18th, 2024 at 12pm PST
Tiffany Schmidt, PhD
Associate Professor, Dept. of Neurobiology
Northwestern University
DIFFERENT LOCATION: Li Ka Shing Center, Room LK306, 291 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305
Zoom Link (if unable to attend in person):
https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Sleep, wake, torpor and other states: from regulation to function
May 17th, 2024 at 12pm PST
Vladyslav Vyazovskiy, PhD
Professor of Sleep Physiology
Director of Graduate Studies
University of Oxford, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics
Location: James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Zoom Link (if unable to attend in person):
https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Precision Sleep Health: Harnessing Technology and the Exposome to Tackle Disparities (VIRTUAL TALK)
March 15th, 2024 at 12pm PST VIA ZOOM
Azizi Seixas, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Director, The Media and Innovation Lab
Associate Director, Center for Translational Sleep and Circadian Sciences
University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine
Zoom Link (Please note this talk is ONLY via Zoom):
https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Dynamic interplay of circadian rhythms and sleep: Implications for healthy aging
February 16th, 2024 at 12pm PST
Phyllis Zee, MD, PhD
Director, Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine
Chief of Sleep Medicine in the Department of Neurology
Benjamin and Virginia T. Boshes Professor of Neurology
Northwestern University - The Feinberg School of Medicine
Location: James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Zoom Link (if unable to attend in person):
https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
How does sleep fix broken brains?
January 19th, 2024 at 12pm PST
Paul Shaw, PhD
Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Location: James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Zoom Link (if unable to attend in person):
https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Insomnia Treatment: What Have we Learned and What do we Still Need to Know?
November 17th, 2023 at 12pm PST
Charles Morin, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychology, Laval University
Director, Centre d'étude des troubles du sommeil
Canada Research Chair in Sleeping Disorders
Location: James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Zoom Link (if unable to attend in person):
https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Using biochemistry to understand human circadian timekeeping and develop new therapeutic approaches
October 20th, 2023 at 12pm PST
Carrie Partch, PhD
Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Santa Cruz
Location: James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Zoom Link (if unable to attend in person):
https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Hypersomnolence in Psychiatric Disorders
May 19th, 2023 at 12pm PST
David Plante, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Medical Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Sleep and Consciousness
Location: Gunn Rotunda (E241), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Zoom Link (if unable to attend in person):
https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Please have camera on if joining via Zoom
You are when you eat: Investigating intermittent fasting and lifespan extension in Drosophila
April 21st, 2023 at 12pm PST
Mimi Shirasu-Hiza, PhD
Associate Professor of Genetics & Development, Columbia Univeristy
Location: Gunn Rotunda (E241), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Zoom Link (if unable to attend in person):
https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Please have camera on if joining via Zoom
Molecular manipulations in skeletal muscle alter the ability to recover from sleep loss
March 17th, 2023 at 12pm PST
Ketema Paul, PhD
Professor, Integrative Biology And Physiology, University of California Los Angeles
Location: Gunn Rotunda (E241), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Zoom Link (if unable to attend in person):
https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Please have camera on if joining via Zoom
Improving brain cancer outcomes with circadian medicine
February 17th, 2023 at 12pm PST
Erik Herzog, PhD
Professor of Biology
Viktor Hamburger Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences
Washington University in St. Louis
Location: James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Zoom Link (if unable to attend in person):
https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Please have camera on if joining via Zoom
Developmental insights into sleep biomarkers, phenotypes and disorders
January 20th, 2023 at 12pm PST
Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, PhD, CBSM, DBSM
Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health
Associate Vice Chair for Faculty Development in Research Scholarship
Director, Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program
Sleep Research & Treatment Center
Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Location: James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153), Stanford ChEM-H /Neuroscience Building, 290 Jane Stanford Way
Zoom Link (if unable to attend in person):
https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99004753637?pwd=RWVUem1FbTNneFhlVFF1Z0l6Mi90UT09
Please have camera on if joining via Zoom
Sleep and Synaptic Homeostasis
November 18th, 2022 at 12pm PST
Chiara Cirelli, MD, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry, Vice Chair for Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Paradoxical (REM) sleep genesis and function
October 28, 2022 at 12pm PST
Pierre-Hervé Luppi, PhD
President of European Sleep Research Society
Head of Team “Sleep”
Faculté de Médecine
Université Lyon I, France
Sleepless in the Spectrum
May 20, 2022 at 12pm PST
Lucia Peixoto, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Translational Medicine and Physiology
Sleep and Alzheimer’s Disease: A Bi-directional relationship
April 15, 2022 at 12pm PST
David Holtzman, MD
Andrew B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor of Neurology
Charlotte and Paul Hagemann Professor of Neurology
Chairman, Department of Neurology
Professor, Molecular Biology and Pharmacology
Neurologist-in-Chief, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis
Circadian system, circadian disruption and meal timing: Impact on human metabolism
March 18, 2022 at 12pm PST
Frank Scheer, MSc, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Sleep signatures of memory consolidation and resilience
February 18, 2022 at 12pm PST
Gina Poe, PhD
Professor
Director of Maximizing Access to Research Careers U*STAR Program
Eleanor Leslie Chair in Innovative Brain Research
UCLA, Integrative Biology and Physiology
Discovering Sleepiness at Sleep Camp: My Sleep Trek with Bill Dement
January 21, 2022 at 12pm PST
Mary Carskadon, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences
Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Brown University