William Dement: "The Promise of Sleep"

William C. Dement, M.D., Ph.D., is a leading authority on sleep, sleep deprivation, and the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago where he participated in the first observations of Rapid Eye Movements during sleep. He was the first to recognize REM sleep as a distinct biological state with unique properties including vivid dreaming and muscle paralysis. In 1970, he founded the world's first sleep disorders center and in 1975 founded the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Dr. Dement is co-editor of the definitive textbook of sleep medicine and has authored the first undergraduate textbook on sleep for the popular course he has taught at Stanford University since 1971. He has made many scientific contributions, among the most important of which are the elucidation of sleep debt and the long-term consequences of sleep deprivation in all components of society.