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David F. Dinges, PhD,
Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, Chief of the
Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, and Director of the Unit for
Experimental Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been awarded the
2007 Distinguished Public Service Medal from the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA). |
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This is the highest award the agency bestows
upon non-government personnel whose distinguished accomplishments
contributed substantially to the NASA mission. |
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Dinges currently serves as scientific Team
Leader for the “Neurobehavioral and Psychosocial Factors
Team” of the NASA-supported National Space Biomedical Research
Institute (NSBRI), where he is concerned with developing preventing
and countering behavioral problems that develop during prolonged
human habitation in space. |
(PHILADELPHIA) – David
F. Dinges, PhD,
has been awarded the 2007 Distinguished
Public Service Medal from
the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA). This
is the highest award the agency bestows upon non-government
personnel whose distinguished accomplishments contributed substantially
to the NASA mission. Dr. Dinges is Professor of Psychology
in Psychiatry,
Chief of the
Division of
Sleep and Chronobiology, and Director of the Unit
for Experimental Psychiatry in the Department
of Psychiatry at the University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
An internationally recognized expert in the biological limits
of human performance relative to sleep need and circadian biology,
Dr. Dinges currently serves as scientific Team
Leader for the “Neurobehavioral and Psychosocial Factors
Team” of the NASA-supported National
Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), where he is concerned with developing preventing
and countering behavioral problems that develop during prolonged
human habitation in space.
The citation reads, in part, that the award is granted to those
individuals whose “…contribution must
be so extraordinary that other forms of recognition would be inadequate."
Dr. Dinges is the author of more than 200 publications and during
the past 30 years his research has been continuously supported
by grants from Federal agencies including the NIH, NASA, DOD, DOT,
and the Department of Homeland Security. His laboratory, located
in the Hospital of the
University of Pennsylvania, performs a wide
range of experiments involving intensive physiological and behavioral
monitoring of humans undergoing performance stressors and acute
or prolonged perturbations sleep and circadian neurobiology.
His scientific focus is on identifying and validating behavioral,
biological and technological countermeasures that improve performance,
and then transitioning these to operational settings for NASA and
other agencies. He is currently directing an experiment supported
by NASA and the National Space Biomedical Institute (NSBRI) on
NEEMO-12 astronauts living in the Aquarius facility on the ocean
floor.
A corresponding member of the International
Academy of Astronautics,
Dr. Dinges also currently serves as President of the World
Federation of Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine Societies, and Editor in Chief
of SLEEP, the leading scientific journal on sleep research
and sleep medicine in the world. He has been President of the Sleep
Research Society and served on the Board of Directors of the American
Academy of Sleep Medicine and the National
Sleep Foundation. He
has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2004 Decade
of Behavior Research
Award from the American
Psychological Association.
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