are president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and it is my honor to welcome you to our annual membership meeting. Whether you're watching the pre-recorded webcast or viewing the on-demand recording, I thank you for taking the time to watch and listen as several colleagues on the board of directors will join me to provide updates on a variety of academy initiatives. We also will recognize the accomplishments of several members, and I'll pass the baton to a new president. In the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all in so many ways, both personally and professionally. Simple things we used to take for granted became a challenge, and complex problems became even more difficult. Confronted by this adversity, you dug deep to find strength, resilience, and hope. Now, here we are, one year later, with a renewed sense of optimism, believing that better days are ahead. I thank you and all our members for pressing onward when times were hard, for rallying together to support one another, and for persevering on behalf of our patients. The past year truly brought out the best in us. Now, to begin our reports, it is my pleasure to introduce Jennifer Martin. She will present the report of the treasurer, and then she will transition to the position of president-elect. Welcome, Jennifer, and congratulations. Thank you, Kanan, and I thank all the academy members. It has been my privilege to serve as your secretary-treasurer. I will present to you a summary of the academy's revenue expenses and expenses for 2020. I am pleased to report that the overall fiscal health of the academy continues to be strong. We maintain a disciplined financial management strategy, which has enabled the academy to make strategic investments that address current member needs while also exploring future opportunities. Before we take a closer look at our finances, let us consider a few examples of the academy's recent investments and upcoming commitments that will strengthen the field of sleep medicine. 2020 was not a typical year by any stretch of the imagination. The academy made a multimillion-dollar commitment to initiatives, many of which Dr. Ramar will describe in more detail during his report of the president, to support our members and our field. These recent investments are possible because of our loyal membership and the academy's sound fiscal management. In the year ahead, we will continue to look for new opportunities to grow our academy and continue to look for new opportunities to leverage our resources, to support our membership and equip you all to thrive. Now let us take a closer look at the academy's revenue in 2020. The operating revenue totaled more than $13 million. It should be no surprise that this was a decrease of 10.7% compared with 2019. COVID-19 forced us to cancel educational courses and the pandemic reduced demand for many of our services, including accreditation, Sleep by a Star and ASTEP. However, in a year when financial hardships were experienced by so many and numerous businesses were forced to close, I am grateful that our revenue remained strong. This is an indicator that the academy continues to remain relevant by providing essential membership benefits for the members of the sleep team. One bright spot for 2020 was the tremendous success of our first ever virtual sleep meeting. Attendance at the meeting was high and our members enjoyed many opportunities for collaboration and learning through this outstanding virtual conference. A number of members who could not attend the live meeting then took advantage of the recorded content as well. Another indicator of an organization's financial health is the diversity of its revenue streams. The academy has historically and intentionally fostered such diversity and I'm pleased to report that 2020 was no exception. As you can see, no single revenue source accounts for more than 29% of the academy's overall operating revenue. The fact that membership dues represent one of the highest sources of income is a positive sign, indicating that the academy is indeed a member-owned organization. Without relying on frequent dues increases, the academy continues to provide valuable benefits that help retain our members and keep all of you engaged. The academy's non-operating revenue is primarily from investment income. Following a turbulent year for the stock market in 2018, our investments have rebounded strongly, enabling the academy to see more than $8 million in gains in 2020. Market volatility is a reminder that this source of revenue can be inconsistent year to year. Although we are unable to ensure future stability in the market, the board of directors closely monitors the performance of our professionally managed investments. Our goal is to ensure a balanced portfolio and conservative investment strategy to preserve our ability to make strategic investments that benefit our members in the future. The academy's expenses in 2020 were just over $15.1 million. While this looks like a significant increase, it actually reflects a change in our bookkeeping to align with current best practices in accounting. At the beginning of the year, we made our annual $2 million contribution to support the AASM Foundation's award programs in 2020. After further evaluating and discussing this process, the board of directors decided that it would be prudent to start making this contribution toward the end of each year, providing funds to the foundation in advance of the upcoming year. Therefore, to initiate this change, the academy made a second $2 million contribution in November 2020 to support the foundation's awards program in 2021. If we remove this second contribution from our expenses, then our actual expenses were just over $13.1 million. This is a decrease of 4% compared to 2019. This reduction was primarily due to COVID-related travel restrictions as the academy had fewer travel expenses and a significantly lower number of accreditation site visits, which enabled us to keep our expenses just below our operating revenue. Overall, we continued to invest in areas of strategic importance to the field. These targeted investments benefit our members and help us ensure that the future of the academy and help us ensure that the field of sleep medicine evolves to meet the demands of a constantly changing healthcare environment and the patients we serve. Like our revenue streams, our expenses are highly diverse. As you will note, our investments in our members and our field is strong, and this commitment is balanced, reflecting the many needs of our membership. These expenses include our accreditation programs, the production of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, advocacy and health policy initiatives, new clinical practice guidelines, the development of valuable professional resources such as Sleep ISR, and our educational programming, which includes an expansive online learning center and high quality courses such as Sleep Medicine Trends. We also support the AASM Foundation by paying for all of its staff, administrative expenses, and fundraising initiatives. In summary, despite the widespread difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the academy maintained a position of financial strength that will enable us to continue advancing the sleep field in the years ahead. Our solid fiscal stewardship also allows us to provide numerous resources and services for you while keeping membership dues among the lowest of any medical society. This makes your academy membership a great value. We are extremely fortunate to have a strong and loyal membership, and we appreciate your continued support. It has been my privilege to serve as your Secretary-Treasurer, and I am honored to transition now to the position of President-Elect. I am confident that the incoming Secretary-Treasurer, Dr. James Raleigh, will serve you well in the year ahead. Thank you. Thank you, Jennifer. Next, it is my honor to introduce Next, it is my honor to introduce Anita Shelgekar, who will give the report of the AASM Foundation President. Welcome, Anita. Hello, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm Dr. Anita Shelgekar, President of the AASM Foundation and Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Michigan. Everyone here knows how untreated sleep disorders can adversely affect the overall health and quality of life for our patients, and how helping to achieve a good night's sleep has made our patients feel well and help them achieve their dreams. In 2018, we developed a new strategic plan for the AASM Foundation. Our new vision for the Foundation's work is healthier lives through better sleep, something that I know all of our AASM members can rally behind. To this end, we see our mission as promoting discoveries that advance the understanding of sleep for healthier lives. To achieve our vision and mission, we identify three strategic goals. Number one, improve patient-centered care through high-impact research. Number two, develop the careers of sleep and circadian investigators. And number three, increase the engagement of current and potential stakeholders. Since the Foundation was founded in 1998, we have awarded almost $19 million in funding, totaling 243 awards, and training over 300 young investigators. We could not have achieved this without the $2 million financial commitment made to the Foundation by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine annually over the last several years, or the growing support from individuals and industry invested in our sleep community. We'd like to thank the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, our 2021 corporate sponsors, Asi, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Avidel, and Itamar, and all of you for generously supporting our programs. Strategic goal number one is focused on improving patient-centered care through high-impact research. The AASM Foundation is committed to addressing research gaps that will ultimately help improve the patient care that we deliver. We mainly achieve strategic goal number one through our largest award program, the Strategic Research Awards. Topics for these awards are carefully chosen by evaluating future research directions identified through clinical practice guidelines, as well as topics that are timely for our field and will advance the goals of both the AASM and the AASM Foundation. In 2021, we issued two Strategic Research Award requests for application. One focused on topics related to the AASM strategic plan, and the other focused on behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder. We had a great response to the two RFAs. We received over 65 letters of intent and invited about 40 investigators to submit a full application. Funding decisions for these awards will be made at the July 2021 board meeting. During this time, we're also finalizing topics for the 2022 Strategic Research Award. So stay tuned since the request for letters of intent for this award program will open up in September, 2021. Strategic goal number two is focused on developing the careers of sleep and circadian investigators by assisting them at various stages throughout their careers. We achieve this by the following, expanding the pipeline of sleep scientists through our research training programs, increasing support for sleep researchers through our career development awards, and increasing the number of sleep research institutions supporting sleep clinicians and researchers by exploring ways to fund research training slots for programs that may not have a core sleep research infrastructure in place. The AASM Foundation has three broad award programs, research, community, and training award programs, all of which are leading us to help build pathways for sleep research, community health, and career success. Our biggest program is the research awards, which include career development awards, investigator-initiated awards, and research supplements. We also have a community awards program and training award programs. Our career development awards are unique to the AASM Foundation, which you can see on this infographic. Whether an individual is a sleep researcher that is just starting out, transitioning to a faculty position, or an independent researcher looking to secure sleep research funding, the AASM Foundation has a variety of awards and programs to help every step of the way. Since last spring, we have done the following, launched the 2020-2021 Sleep Research Program for Advancing Careers, also known as the SOAR Program, and within that program, we matched five SOAR fellows with five SOAR mentors. This program aims at increasing the number of early career investigators who successfully apply for external sleep research funding through mentorship and grantsmanship training opportunities. We awarded more than half a million dollars in career development awards to seven early and mid-career sleep researchers. We successfully held the first fully virtual Young Investigators Research Forum in 2020, with 32 early career investigators participating. This program is a conduit in developing sleep research careers of early career investigators by providing them with an opportunity to interact with and network with senior sleep investigators, peers, and representatives of federal funding agencies. We kicked off this year's Young Investigators Research Forum 2021 with 24 early career investigators and with Avidel as our exclusive sponsor for the Young Investigators Research Forum. We issued a request for proposals for a new award for junior investigators that is supported by ACI, which is focused on identifying, evaluating, and validating biomarkers to support insomnia differential disorder and clinical treatment response. We've developed a Diversity Supplement Award to support mentored sleep research training of promising students, postdocs, and clinical fellows who are members of minority groups traditionally underrepresented in the US science workforce. We have funded our first Sleep Medicine Fellow Funding Award for three Sleep Medicine Fellowship positions that are new or were at risk of losing institutional funding. When this new strategic plan was launched several years ago, we envisioned the AASM Foundation leaning in to collaborate with more groups in the healthcare ecosystem by engaging with potential stakeholders and working with new funders. As I approach my second year of being the AASM Foundation President, I am excited to share that we really are working together in 2021 with new partners and providing new support to the sleep community. The Sleep Champion Award celebrates successful community-based sleep health services and education provided by nonprofit organizations. We want to raise the profile of organizations that are doing amazing work and deserve special recognition for their efforts. And the 2021 recipient of this merit-based award is Start School Later. Additional ways in which we are working together include working with other organizations or include working with the CHESS Foundation on a new joint award to support sleep medicine research and partnering with the American Medical Association Foundation to support future sleep physicians. As you can see, the AASM Foundation has a mission, vision and programs that are focused on making an impact while supporting the sleep community during these very challenging times. We are excited to continue our program expansion by working together with our AASM members to identify new ways in which we can make a difference and support the future of sleep and circadian research. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Anita. Before I give the report of the President, I have the pleasure of recognizing some members for their outstanding accomplishments. First, it is my honor to recognize past President Kelly Cotten, whose term on the Board of Directors concludes today after eight years of exceptional service. The Board has greatly benefited from her wisdom, insight and love for the field of sleep medicine. I thank Kelly for sacrificing so much of her time to serve our academy and our field. Here's a brief message that she provided for us all. Hello and welcome to the membership meeting. My name is Kelly Cotten and after eight years on the Board, it's time for me to step down. But before I do, I wanted to take the time to speak to the hundreds of volunteers of the AASM. I would like to name you now. Let's see, there's Lourdes and Seema and Kathy and Gail and Grant and David and Emerson, Jeff, Janice, Ann, Andrew. Oh, wait, they only gave me two minutes to talk. So seriously, I can't name you all, but you should know that the work you do is the bedrock of this organization. The work you do truly makes a difference. I'm personally thanking you for the time that you devote, the unique perspectives you bring, the contributions you make and the knowledge and skillset that you use to create great things for this academy. This organization is dependent upon you. Your service is invaluable and I thank you. You know, the AASM has become home for me in ways that would have been hard for me to imagine and provided me an honor that I still have a hard time believing could come my way. Though today I reflect on a rush of memories that are indelible to me, I truly can't wait to watch and celebrate what comes next. It would be impossible for me not to conclude that the AASM's best era remains to be discovered. Thank you. I now have the pleasure of announcing the recipients of the 2021 Trainee Investigator Award, which recognizes high-quality research abstracts that were presented at the Virtual SLEAP 2021 Annual Meeting. One recipient and three honorable mentions were selected from among 61 candidates. The recipient of the 2021 Trainee Investigator Award who received $1,000 for his exceptional research is Omonigo Bubu, an assistant professor and physician scientist at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. His abstract explored the association of sleep apnea severity with novel plasma biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. Three individuals also earned honorable mention and received $500 for their research. They are Jeremy Chan of Seattle Children's Hospital. His study in pediatric patients with refractory epilepsy examined how a surface electrode adjacent to a vagal nerve stimulator can correlate sleep disordered breathing with vagal nerve stimulation. Christina Chick of the Stanford University School of Medicine. Her study was the first to examine the effects of a school-based health and mindfulness curriculum on children's objectively measured sleep. And Andrew Tubbs, an MD-PhD candidate, completing his PhD in the University of Arizona Department of Psychiatry. His abstract reports that insomnia is a significant, proximal risk factor for suicidal ideation, especially in older adults. I congratulate these four members for their outstanding research. It is now my honor to recognize the 2021 class of fellows of the Academy, comprising 34 members who are leaders in the field of sleep medicine. Fellow status recognizes outstanding contributions in sleep medicine and dedicated membership in the Academy. Fellows must demonstrate special contributions to the scientific literature or notable achievements in the field of sleep medicine in two out of the three areas, scholarship, service, or education. I congratulate each of these distinguished members. ♪♪ The application period for the 2022 class of fellows will open in the fall. I encourage you to visit the academy website to learn more about the eligibility criteria. For our final recognition, it is my pleasure to introduce the winner of the 2021 Sleep is Essential High School Video Contest, which focused on educating teens about the importance of healthy sleep. Out of 151 completed entries, 89 were selected to compete for the first place prize of $1,000. The winner was Trinity Cormparents, a 12th grade homeschool student in Arlington, Washington. Here is her winning video. Hey you, how much sleep are you getting at night? Five hours. Whoa! You might be suffering from sleep deprivation. Is that bad? Bad! Sleep deprivation can cause anxiety, forgetfulness, heart disease, lack of concentration, and so much more. How? Let me show you. Your brain does housekeeping at night. Just as plaque forms on your teeth, NINS concluded that toxic proteins can form plaque in your brain. Normally, the glymphatic system drains these toxins from your brain, but this garbage disposal does its job when you're asleep. When you don't sleep, your brain can't take the trash out. This not only impairs your brain, but can lead to Alzheimer's and dementia. Moreover, NCBI found decreased activation in these parts of the brain when you don't get sleep. This impairs your concentration, and the SRS found 16% of fatal crashes were caused by drowsy drivers. But don't worry. For $0, you can take our prescription, eight hours of sleep. Eight hours? Sleep is essential. Those are the eight most important hours of your day. I guess you're right. You bet I am. Side effects may include thinking clearly and doing better in school and at work. Now it is my honor to present to you the report of the Academy President. Serving as president during the COVID-19 pandemic challenged me in numerous ways. As I focused on being adaptable and optimistic, I found strength in the dedication of my colleagues on the Academy Board of Directors. These talented men and women are passionate about the field of sleep medicine, and they are deeply committed to the work of the Academy. I'm grateful to serve alongside each of them, and I'm thankful for all that they continue to teach me. One of my priorities this year was to understand how COVID-19 was affecting our members. Our first Pulse survey in July and August confirmed that many sleep centers were struggling financially due to the pandemic. The Academy responded in numerous ways to reduce fees for our members. We provided free webinars and courses, extended sleep ISR subscriptions, and most significantly, we waived facility membership dues for 2021. In April, we conducted our third Pulse survey. While the sample size was smaller, the responses and the comments we received revealed a few glimmers of hope. The results suggest that patient volumes and financial conditions are improving. I'm hopeful that these trends will continue in a positive direction throughout the second half of the year. Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, the Academy continued a multitude of initiatives in support of our mission to advance sleep care and enhance sleep health to improve lives. I'm proud of what we were able to accomplish, and I want to share some of the highlights with you. Our advocacy and public awareness efforts garnered national recognition for the field of sleep medicine. Our most important advocacy initiative occurred this spring. The Academy coordinated a joint response by 20 organizations to draft a CPAP technology assessment posted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The report, which was requested by CMS, questioned the clinical value of CPAP therapy. Our 20-page comment letter provided specific recommendations to address concerns about the report, and it asked AHRQ to consider revising the draft report prior to final publication. Academy representatives also met with AHRQ to discuss these concerns in more detail. We will continue to monitor this issue closely. An important milestone for our advocacy efforts was the establishment of a Congressional Sleep Health Caucus, co-chaired by Representative Zoe Lofgren of California and Representative Rodney Davis of Illinois. I encourage you to ask your U.S. representative to become a member of the caucus, which will amplify our messages and strengthen our advocacy efforts on capital. Representative Lofgren also introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives a resolution expressing support for the designation of the third week of September as National Student Sleep Health Week. This annual designation gives us an outstanding opportunity to draw attention to the important relationship between sleep and student health. Our Public Safety Committee developed a position statement calling for the elimination of seasonal time changes and supporting the adoption of year-round standard time. This statement was endorsed by more than 20 medical, scientific, and civic organizations, and it gained widespread attention as the national debate on this issue continues. Now we are urging Congress to hold a Congressional hearing so sleep and circadian experts can present more information about the potential benefits of permanent standard time. The Academy's latest position statement emphasizes the importance of sleep for health and well-being. It was endorsed by more than 25 organizations, and it will be a centerpiece for ongoing advocacy and public awareness efforts in support of our vision that sleep is recognized as essential to health. This spring, we collaborated with Google to share evidence-based recommendations and sleep tips with consumers through the sleep-sensing feature available on the second-generation Nest Hub. We are excited to work with Google to provide research-backed recommendations to help people better understand and improve their sleep. We also redesigned and relaunched the Sleep Education website, which has been completely updated as a premier sleep resource for patients and the public. The site is responsive on mobile devices and features comprehensive information about sleep disorders and treatments, as well as a prominent directory of our accredited member sleep centers. The Academy developed numerous resources this year to support our members and patients. We published two clinical practice guidelines, providing recommendations for use of our behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia and for the treatment of central disorders of hypersomnia. These guidelines are dependent on the expertise of our Task Force members, and I am so thankful for their commitment to evidence-based medicine. This was the year when we finally saw widespread telemedicine adoption, and our Telemedicine Presidential Committee created a host of resources for us. They developed a video library, patient evaluation templates, FAQs, and a new implementation guide to equip you for success when conducting video visits. Our Technology Innovation Committee expanded our online resource, Hashtag Sleep Technology, which now has 90 assessments of new and popular sleep devices and apps, including both consumer and clinical technology. A concise, at-a-glance summary will ensure that you're ready when patients come to you with questions about the latest sleep devices. One of our most exciting achievements this year was the launch of the first clinical data registry exclusively for sleep medicine. Sleep CDR will support quality improvement efforts, collection of patient-reported outcomes data, and benchmarking. It also will facilitate participation in national quality reporting programs. Another benefit is that it will streamline accreditation, allowing sleep centers to set and track performance goals to meet the quality assurance standard when applying for re-accreditation. Data entry and reporting in Sleep CDR is currently free for AASM facility members and individual members in AASM-accredited sleep centers. In 2017, the Academy established the American Alliance for Healthy Sleep to advocate for patients. Recognizing that other patient advocacy groups are focused on specific sleep disorders, the Alliance sought to unite patients and providers to improve the lives of people with all sleep disorders. In the following three years, as the Alliance connected with the other patient advocacy organizations, we received valuable feedback about the needs and visions of these dedicated groups. Ultimately, the Board of Directors of both the Alliance and the Academy decided to dissolve the Alliance and focus on integrating the patient voice within the Academy. We have already added patient representatives to our Public Awareness Advisory Committee, and we are now developing a plan for how the Academy can better serve and empower the other patient advocacy organizations. Dr. Malhotra will provide more details in his report. Finally, in a year marked by widespread travel restrictions, the Academy worked hard to bring professional education opportunities to you. Together with the Sleep Research Society, we partnered to host Virtual Sleep 2020 last August and Virtual Sleep 2021 this past weekend. Both meetings were a tremendous success, and I'm grateful for the many Academy members who presented their research and shared their expertise as a speaker. These virtual meetings united sleep clinicians and sleep scientists from across the country and around the world, providing an important source of inspiration and encouragement during this difficult year. In March, we also hosted our second Sleep Medicine Disruptors course, which was free for Academy members. The course provided an eye-opening look at the latest innovations that will impact healthcare delivery and the field of sleep medicine. It was followed by our first-ever Change Agents Competition, which challenged teams to propose strategies to reinvent the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. There isn't enough time to tell you about all the fabulous work of our many committees and task forces. However, I sincerely thank every one of our volunteers. Your commitment to the Academy and the sleep field is an inspiration to me. I'm grateful for your dedicated service. The Academy also continues to work hard to ensure that our volunteers, leadership, and awards represent the diversity of our membership. We introduced a new DEI travel and registration grant to give members from underrepresented demographic groups an opportunity to become even more engaged at an annual meeting. Our DEI committee has been hosting a series of virtual discussion groups to help us promote a welcoming environment for all members. We approved the creation of a new awards panel, which will develop a more transparent and inclusive process for the nomination of candidates for our annual awards. Finally, together with the SRS, we introduced a new DEI Leadership Award, which will be given annually to a deserving member of the sleep field. As I close, I will highlight the Academy's core values, which are guardrails to help us make important decisions. These values, such as adaptable and innovative, served us well this past year, inspiring the courage to make bold decisions during uncertain times. It truly has been an honor to serve as your president this year, and I know the Academy will be in good hands under the leadership of Raman Malhotra in the year ahead. Thank you. It is now my honor to introduce to you the 2021-2022 President of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Raman Malhotra, who has been a member of the Academy for 17 years. He is an Associate Professor in the Sleep Medicine section of the Department of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Congratulations, Raman. Dear members, it is my pleasure and honor to give the report of the incoming president for 2021-2022. It is an honor and privilege to be president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and to join a distinguished group of past leaders in our field. I will serve as the 36th president of the AASM. This moment reminds me of the membership meeting back in 2018 when my good friend, Dr. Doug Kirsch, took over as the 33rd president from past president Dr. Eileen Rosen. Anyone who knows Doug knows he's a huge sports fan and is originally from Boston, so it was fitting that he was able to highlight a famous number 33 from Boston, Larry Bird, fighting for position with the famous number 32, Magic Johnson. I'm also a big sports fan, as you'll see in the sports-themed slides coming up, but struggled greatly to find a famous St. Louis sports figure who wore the number 36 to correspond with my presidency. However, I was able to eventually find the appropriate number 36. Though Jerome Bettis had most of his fame while in Pittsburgh, he did start off as a Ram and did play in St. Louis. I also felt that Jerome Bettis, or the bus, fits my build and character and is a good choice for a number 36. Similar to Dr. Kirsch's picture of placing his face over Larry Bird and Dr. Rosen over Magic Johnson, I thought I would put our faces on this photo showing Dr. Ramar, the 35th president, leading me as I go on my journey as president as number 36. Dr. Ramar was our fearless and inspirational leader during the most challenging of times. He not only kept our board focused on our mission, but he led by example, adapting and doing what was best for the academy and its members, while also fighting on the front lines during the pandemic. I am proud of the many initiatives and actions taken by the board during this pandemic to help our members, as outlined in his president's report. On behalf of the board and the over 11,000 members and accredited centers, I wish to thank Dr. Ramar for his tremendous service as president. I will try my best to take the baton and continue the progress as we race toward achieving our mission and vision of the AASM. I'd also like to take this time to congratulate Dr. Jennifer Martin, who is on deck as president-elect. Dr. Martin has had a long tenure of service with the AASM as a board member, secretary treasurer, and president of the AASM Foundation. I'm enthusiastic to continue to work closely with Dr. Martin as she readies herself to take over as president next year in Charlotte, North Carolina, at our next membership meeting. Many of my friends, family, and colleagues have asked recently, are you ready to be president? I am ready for the task, however, just like in team sports, in leadership, you are never better off on your own. As you can see, this goalie trying to prevent a goal without any defenders to help him. We as a team are ready. In my role as president, I have an amazing team to help me make this year successful for our members and the AASM. Here's our dream team, which includes not only our board of directors, but our exceptional executive director, Mr. Steve Van Hout, all of our wonderful senior staff at the AASM as well. I would also like to thank all of the AASM staff, our chairs and vice chairs of committees and task forces, our committee and task force members, and all members that help our association advance our mission and make the AASM the leader in the field of sleep medicine. We do have a new member of our team on the board of directors, Dr. David Coleman. David is a community sleep physician who directs the Bothwell Sleep Center in Sedalia, Missouri. He has been active in the academy for a number of years, helping out with our political action committee, coding and compliance among other committee and task forces. He's also been an accreditation site visitor for the AASM and brings that unique perspective and a wealth of experience to the board that I feel will be invaluable as we plan for future models of care and accreditation. We unfortunately have to say goodbye to Dr. Kelly Carden, who made a lasting impact on the AASM in too many ways to list at this time. It was a pleasure and honor to be able to work with Kelly over the last several years, as I can confidently say that the AASM will be a better organization due to her tireless effort and service to the academy. Dr. Carden will be greatly missed. If we look at the makeup of our new board of directors, it's a diverse group made up of six men and women spanning from all parts of the country, coast to coast. They all have unique skill sets that they bring to the board. Our board is made up of both adult and pediatric sleep specialists from both academic and non-academic practices, large and small healthcare systems in urban and rural settings. Let me introduce my background for those of you who don't know me. I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and currently reside in St. Louis where I work at the Washington University Sleep Medicine Center. I'm primarily a clinician, spending most of my time seeing adult patients and reading sleep studies, along with teaching responsibilities for house officers and medical students. My focus throughout my career has been on patience and patient care. I know that taking care of patients is what drives me and brings me joy. I know this is also the case for many of our members. Taking care of patients, making patients sleep better, this is why many of us chose the field of sleep medicine. Our unified purpose as the AASM is to advance patient care to improve sleep health. This is why I'm making incorporation of the patient voice a priority during my year as president. Many in leadership have felt that the patient's voice has not always been integrated enough in our decision making. Though we have our patients in mind when we're making decisions at the board level, it is only natural that we may have had some blind spots at times. It's vital to hear directly from patients who are suffering from sleep disorders and their family members. Hearing stories of our successes in making our patients sleep better invigorates and energizes us. And listening to constructive criticism on how we can improve our care will ultimately lead the AASM and its members closer to accomplishing its mission and vision. One core value of the academy is to be patient centered, and this is going to be, again, a top priority during my presidency. I like to share with you several ways the academy is going to focus on patients in the year ahead. The academy is launching a new patient advocacy roundtable to support the organizations that are doing amazing work on behalf of our patients. I've already personally reached out to, met, and invited participation of some of the most influential sleep advocacy groups in our nation. These groups are passionate about supporting patients with sleep disorders. We have confirmed at least seven patient groups who have agreed to join a roundtable so far. We're planning to hold the first roundtable this summer. We're going to work together to advance shared goals, advocate, and raise awareness. We're also going to identify opportunities to increase the patient voice in academy initiatives. Together, the roundtable will conceive and develop projects such as joint webinars, awareness campaigns, and new patient resources. The academy will invite and cover expenses for roundtable representatives to join us on our Hill Days in Washington, D.C. to advocate for patients. We will continue to incorporate the patient perspective as we develop new clinical practice guidelines, and we'll give patients the opportunity to participate on relevant committee and task forces by being a patient representative on specific committees. Finally, we're developing a proposal that would significantly increase the patient presence at our sleep annual meeting, which we co-organized with the Sleep Research Society. We envision the development of a patient weekend with educational sessions and a reception for patients, as well as a 5K race that will increase public awareness and raise funds for sleep research. We believe that engaging with our patients will make us all better clinicians and researchers. We will continue to advocate for pair policies that enhance the ability of sleep medicine professionals to provide the best evidence care for patients with sleep disorders. As Dr. Ramar mentioned, we will continue to push back against the recent draft PAP report by the AHRQ. We will work with the ASIM Foundation to encourage more strategic research on the long-term clinically important outcomes of PAP therapy. Our Pair Policy Review Committee will continue developing scorecards to encourage insurers to adopt evidence-based policies that support patient safety and delivery of high-quality care. Our Coding and Compliance and Pair Policy Review Committees will review PAP, national coverage determinations, and local coverage determination policies to identify the issues that impede patient care or are inconsistent with Academy guidance. We will continue to support efforts led by the AMA to reduce overreach of prior authorizations. Our Hypopnea Scoring Rule Task Force, led by Dr. Rich Berry, will create strategies for adoption and implementation of the AASM recommended adult hypopnea scoring criteria. Our members have always provided feedback on how not having a unified hypopnea has harmed patient care and caused confusion in our specialty. This committee has already been working this year by surveying member centers, engaging sleep study software companies, and forming a hypopnea workgroup made up of leading researchers in the area. Over the last year, we assembled world experts and researchers in the area of hypopneas and sleep apnea. After a series of Zoom meetings over the last year, this group made a formal request to the AASM Board of Directors to help fund research that will hopefully allow the field to advance by learning about the importance of arousal-based hypopneas and hypopneas associated with a 3% oxygen desaturation. We feel the group of CMS Medicare-negative sleep apnea patients sleep better with treatment and should have the treatment for their sleep apnea covered by all payers. To ensure that patients have access to high-quality care for sleep disorders, the Academy is focused on efforts to expand the sleep team workforce. We are continuing our Advancing Innovation and Residency Education program, or our AIR program, which is piloting part-time and blended training models for sleep physicians. This year, the Sleep Medicine Match for Fellowship Training programs will move to December 1st as part of the Medical Specialties Matching program, aligning our match with other medical specialties. Finally, we have appointed two new task forces that will help us understand the educational and training needs for advanced practice providers and dentists in the sleep field. Providing patient-centered care requires that we understand ongoing innovations in sleep medicine. To ensure that artificial intelligence doesn't compromise sleep care, the Academy is developing a pilot program for certification of software that uses AI for sleep stage scoring. Our Emerging Technology Committee will continue to develop educational resources, including an annual report to help members understand the uses and limitations of new consumer and clinical technologies. We've also begun posting on the website a quarterly State of Sleep Medicine report to help you identify current trends and innovations in sleep medicine, recognize important developments in health care, and prepare for potential disruption that may have an impact on the future of the sleep field. In addition to our ongoing public relations initiatives and projects, the Academy is developing a multi-year National Public Awareness Campaign in support of our vision, Sleep is Recognized as Essential to Health. Our goal is to elevate awareness and the importance of sleep to the same level as nutrition and exercise. We anticipate that the campaign will begin at the end of this year and the first quarter of 2022. Our clinical practice guidelines and clinical guidance statements will continue to help optimize patient care. Our latest guideline is referral of adults with OSA for surgical consultation. Other papers in development will address a variety of topics that are important for clinical care and listed on this slide. I also want to highlight just a few other ways in which the Academy will equip our members this year, giving you the tools you need for your professional development. With the combined membership of 11,000 individual and facility members, the Academy is your premier networking resource. This has been challenging during the pandemic since in-person meetings were on hold. I'm excited to announce that soon we will be launching a members-only online community that will make it easier than ever for you to connect, engage, and network. The community will include a robust discussion forum where you can ask questions, discuss relevant topics, connect with members with shared interests, and share your expertise with one another. Stay tuned for more information about this exciting new tool that will allow our members to connect. This September, two of our most popular courses, Sleep Medicine and Health, Sleep Medicine Trends, and Sleep Medicine Essentials, will be held in-person in Austin, Texas. Trends will update you on the latest developments in the field, while Essentials will cover the foundations of sleep medicine, which is perfect if you're preparing for the board or MOC exam. Two more courses will be offered online in October and November. The final board prep course will ensure that you're ready for the board or MOC exam. Practice Management, which will be free for members this year, will help you and your staff optimize the operations of your sleep facility. We all look forward to meeting in person again for our annual sleep meeting, which is scheduled to take place June 4th through 8th in beautiful Charlotte, North Carolina. Though virtual sleep 2020 and 2021 were great, I'm sure I'm not alone in missing the learning opportunities, networking, and ability to meet with colleagues and friends that in-person sleep meetings have provided for years as the premier sleep meeting in the world. I would like to thank the many people that have helped me prepare me throughout my career in sleep medicine to take on this leadership role. I cannot name them all, but wanted to specifically thank Drs. Ron Shurpin, Flavia Consens, and Elona Avedon, who helped train me during my residency and fellowship at the University of Michigan and continue to be invaluable mentors for me. I want to thank previous board members and past presidents, Drs. Nate Watson, Doug Kirsch, and Eileen Rosen for their wisdom and guidance over the years. I want to thank all my colleagues at the University of Michigan, St. Louis University, and my current colleagues at Washington University for their advice and support as I move into this important leadership position. Last but not least, I want to thank all of my family and specifically my wife Shalini, my children Yash and Sanjay for bringing me such joy, love, and happiness in my life. I want to close by sharing a meaningful quote for the current time. You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down. We need to start looking up and ahead. All signs are pointing toward us coming out of the pandemic and the future looks bright. I ask that our members embrace what we've learned through these challenging times and start to move forward. I look forward to a promising and successful year for the academy as we work on our mission of advancing sleep care, enhancing sleep health, to improve lives. Thank you. Hello, this is Thomas Heffron, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications for the academy. Before we close the membership meeting, we're going to have a brief Q&A time. Since this conversation is being pre-recorded, we invited members to submit questions in advance by email and on social media. However, if any of you have questions about the information presented during this meeting or about any academy initiatives, we encourage you to email us at membership at aasm.org. Well, let's begin with Dr. Malhotra. First, congratulations on becoming AASM president. I'm just curious what excites you the most about the year ahead. Thanks, Thomas. Like most members, I'm most looking forward to continuing to safely transition back to some of the things we're used to doing pre-COVID with our colleagues and our patients. What our members and our world has gone through over the last year and a half has been unprecedented. No one could have expected how our lives could have changed. We're fortunate to have Dr. Amar as our president and our Executive Director, Mr. Steve Van Hout, lead the academy and its members through these challenging times. I am optimistic that the worst days of COVID-19 are behind us and that this is going to be a great year for the academy and our members. I'm particularly looking forward to resuming our in-person meetings, the courses in beautiful Austin, Texas in the fall, and very excited about having an in-person sleep meeting next June in Charlotte. Until then, I believe our board will make progress on achieving our strategic goals and advocating for our patients and our members. Great, thank you. Well, Dr. Amar, your presidency obviously was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, so now that you have a vantage point to look back on the past year, what did you learn about the academy and about our members during this difficult time? Thank you, Thomas. I really think we learned a lot during this past year and I think these lessons learned will significantly help us moving forward as we continue to tackle future challenges related to new disruptions that might be coming our way. The academy, I think, was really responsive to the needs of our members. We were nimble and adaptable, adaptable being one of our core values, and we were able to quickly pivot and make some important decisions over this past year. The academy saw and utilized opportunities in the face of these challenges to benefit our members, our field, and our patients. Despite the pandemic, I really think we made significant progress in our strategic goals and did not lose sight of our vision and mission. We used our six core values as our guarding rails, guiding principles, so that we can continue to advance towards our vision. Our members were incredibly resourceful and resilient. We all ended up learning from our mistakes and still moved forward. More importantly, our members showed courage as they faced challenges. This was truly an inspiration for me, for the board, and for our leadership within our academy. For years, our academy leaders have been planning for disruptions like the one that we just had with the pandemic, and these preparations helped us to adapt to these challenges. I really would like to take this opportunity to thank our members, the ASM staff, and the board for everything that you all did this past year. This will definitely be an unforgettable year for some time to come, but I really think we are all better for what we went through. The academy is in great place. We are all well suited and well prepared now to move forward under Dr. Malhotra's leadership to serve our members, field, and our patients. Great, thank you. Dr. Martin, this year the board made some unprecedented decisions in budgeting for 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As Secretary-Treasurer for the past year, can you give us a little bit of insight about this decision-making process? Sure, Thomas. Well, first of all, the board understands that the past year has been financially challenging for many of our members and the patients they serve as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, after discussing how the AASM could help, we took a number of bold steps this year to try to support our members. For example, by waiving facility membership dues this year and offering free registration for several of our educational courses, such as the sleep medicine disruptors and practice management courses. We know that these decisions will result We know that these decisions will result in a deficit budget for this year with our expenses exceeding our projected revenue. However, our strong commitment to supporting our members and our healthy financial reserves will enable us to absorb this loss in the current year. We are grateful that we can serve our members in such meaningful ways during challenging times. Thank you. I also want to get all of your thoughts about one of the hot topics in the field right now and that's the recent Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality draft report on CPAP therapy. I'd like to see if you could share some of your thoughts about this report and the way that the Academy responded to it. Dr. Malhotra, why don't we begin with you? I'm very proud how the Academy coordinated such a comprehensive and analytical response. The AASM recently sent representatives to meet with AHRQ to discuss the nuances of our comment letter. This is an incredibly important issue and we'll continue to advocate for our members and our patients. Dr. Amar, how about you? Yeah, Thomas, I think the multi-society response was truly remarkable and I'm really grateful for the Academy members who participated on the joint writing group that was chaired by Dr. Sushil Patil and guided by one of our senior staff and our assistant executive director, Dr. Sherene Thomas. With 20 organizations involved, it was truly a united response from the sleep medicine community. I'm really thankful that the Academy has such strong collaborative relationships with the other professional societies in our field. This is also an important reminder that together, we can really address any challenges that come our way. Thank you. And Dr. Martin, what are your thoughts about the AHRQ report? Well, the AHRQ report certainly threw down the gauntlet for the sleep research community. We all know the value of CPAP therapy in reducing symptoms for many of our patients. Now, it's up to the scientific community to prove its value to AHRQ, CMS, and other payers. And I believe our research community is up to the challenge. I'm optimistic that new and ongoing research will enable us to show the value of CPAP treatment for our patients with OSA. Thank you. Well, Dr. Malhotra, as we close the membership meeting today, are there any final words that you'd like to share with our members? I'm thankful and fortunate to serve alongside dedicated colleagues on the board, our executive director, and the senior staff of the Academy. I'm constantly amazed by the talent, ingenuity, and skills of our Academy members, and want to thank all of you that have volunteered their time and effort to help the Academy in the coming year. I know there will be challenges for the sleep field, but I also believe there are great opportunities for us to fulfill our Academy's mission of advancing sleep care and enhancing sleep health to improve lives. I thank our members for giving me this opportunity, and I look forward to all that we'll accomplish in the coming year. Well, this concludes the 2021 Annual Membership Meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. We thank you for joining us.

Annual Membership Meeting

American Academy of Sleep Medicine

COVID-19 pandemic

resilience

treasurer's report

patient-centered care

advocacy efforts

virtual sleep meeting

patient voice

future of sleep medicine