Faculty Candidate Seminar: Joseph M. Dzierzewski, Ph.D. – Correlates and consequences of sleep: A socioecological perspective

Wednesday, July 17, 2019
1:00- 2:00 PM ~ Communicore Building, Room C1-4

Joseph M. Dzierzewski, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor – Department of Psychology
Virginia Commonwealth University

Sleep is a universal phenomenon with many associated benefits; however, disturbed sleep is very common. This talk will provide a brief background on the two most common sleep disorders (insomnia and sleep apnea), review the socioecological model of sleep, and present results from a recently concluded RCT testing a novel approach to the treatment of individuals with comorbid insomnia and sleep apnea. Future directions will be discussed.

Dr. Dzierzewski is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in clinical health psychology and geropsychology. He received his doctorate in clinical psychology, specializing in health and geropsychology, from the University of Florida in 2012. Following academic positions at both the VA Greater Los Angeles Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Dr. Dzierzewski is now Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University where he is the director of the SAGE (sleep + age) Research Lab. The research focus of the SAGE Lab is twofold: 1) Identification of the correlates and consequences of both normal, and disordered sleep, and 2) Examination of primary and secondary endpoints associated with interventions targeting poor sleep. Dr. Dzierzewski has authored over 70 publications, and his scholarly activity has been funded by institutional, foundation, and federal research grants. Currently, Dr. Dzierzewski is an investigator on over 4.45 million dollars in active grant support.