Dr Ruth M. Benca, MD, PhD

Presentation title: Disordered sleep and rhythms: causes or consequences of psychiatric disorders?

Biography:
Dr. Ruth Benca was appointed Kate Mills Snider Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Wake Forest University School of Medicine Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in July, 2021. Previously she was Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of California, Irvine. 

She received her AB at Harvard and her MD and PhD degrees from the University of Chicago. She did her residency training in Psychiatry at the University of Chicago and is board certified in Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine. She has been a faculty member at the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was Jan and Kathryn Ver Hagen Professor of Translational Research, and served as Associate Chair of the Psychiatry Department and Director of the UW Center for Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research.

Her research focuses on the interface between sleep and psychiatric disorders across the lifespan, and the role of sleep and sleep disorders on Alzheimer’s disease, with emphasis on insomnia and sleep apnea. She has served as principal investigator for studies funded by agencies including the NIH and the DOD. 

Her work has spanned basic research in animal models to clinical research and clinical trials. She has authored over 170 articles, reviews and book chapters. She has served as President of the Sleep Research Society and on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and currently is Editor-in-chief of Current Sleep Medicine Reports and Insomnia Section Editor of UpToDate. She is a member of the Sleep Medicine Advisory Committee for the American Board of Internal Medicine.