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A message from the President of the Indian Society for Sleep Research:
As President of the Indian Society for Sleep Research (ISSR), I extend
my heartfelt greetings to all the sleep researchers, clinicians and others
who are interested in sleep science in this country. The formation of the
ISSR gave a significant boost to sleep research and sleep medicine in India.
This organization was founded during an international conference on sleep
organized at New Delhi in September, 1992. Prof. B. Ramamurthy was its first
President, and Dr. T. Desiraju became the Vice President. After the sad
demise of Dr. T. Desiraju, Prof. M.K. Chandrashekaran was nominated to the
chair of Vice President. Dr. V. Mohan Kumar was the General Secretary. I had
the rare honour and privilege to hold the office of Founder Treasurer. Prof.
Chandrashekaran became the President of the Society after Prof. B.
Ramamurthy. Prof. V. Mohan Kumar served the society as President after Prof.
Chandrasekharan. I am honoured to occupy the chair of the President of ISSR
which was earlier occupied by my illustrious predecessors. |
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ISSR had held last conferences in under the able
leadership of Dr. Kamlesh K. Gulia in God’s own country Kerala in December
2010. I would like to congratulate her for successfully organizing the
conferences of ISSR. The prime objective of the ISSR conferences was to
enable all the participants to present their individual research, and to
provide an insight into the success stories of renowned sleep investigators.
With the clinical leadership provided by Dr Deepak Shrivastava from
California, and faculty support from USA, Japan and India, the ISSR had been
hosting National Sleep Medicine Courses, every year. The first course was
held at AIIMS, New Delhi. This course was organized at NIMHANS, Bangalore in
December 2007. The Third National Sleep Medicine Course was organized at -Cuttack,
in December 2008. The fourth and fifth NSMC were organized at New Delhi and
Thiruvanathapuram in 2009 and 2010 respectively. The sixth NSMC will be
organized by Dr Preeti Devnani in Mumbai during December 10-11, 2011.
ISSR had been providing international recognition and exposure to Indian
scientists through its adherence to Asian Sleep Research Society (ASRS) and
the International body the “World Sleep” (previously known as World
Federation of Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine). The ISSR supported the
formation of the ASRS. The scientists from Asia, who had attended the
International Conference at New Delhi in September, 1992, formed the
Founding Committee of ASRS. It is needless to state that there is a need for
exposure of Indian scientists to international sleep research and to the
sleep medicine community. It is a matter of pride for ISSR that it
organized, in collaboration with ASRS, the second Interim Congress of World
Federation of Sleep Research Societies, at New Delhi during 22-26 September,
2005. The ISSR and ASRS will be organizing several conferences in future.
The 6th ASRS Congress (2009) was held during 24-28 October at Osaka, Japan.
I would like to inform our Indian scientists that the ASRS is hosting the Worldsleep2011 in Japan during October 16-20, 2011. I request the Indian
scientists to participate in these meetings in large numbers and present
their findings at these Congresses.
Progress in clinical sleep medicine and basic sleep sciences is rapid at the
moment. Knowledge gained from sleep research, and advancement made in
clinical sleep medicine, should lead to more effective treatments for the
myriad human sleep disorders. Knowledge gained from basic research on sleep
in animals has led to amazing advances in the understanding of human sleep,
with important diagnostic and effective therapeutic implications. It should
be the endeavour of the Indian scientists to undertake applied and clinical
research so that the knowledge gained from experiments would result in
practical human application. In addition, questions raised by human sleep
disorders will help to direct research in basic science. A close
collaboration between basic science and sleep medicine will result in
positive contribution to medical science and patient care. Research findings
of Indian scientists should be made known to the International community.
The international journal, 'Sleep and Biological Rhythms “(SBR) is now the
official journal of ASRS. This journal will be a useful vehicle for the
publication of research findings by Indian scientists.
Sleep disorders cover a wide spectrum of diseases. Most of the patients of
sleep disorders in India do not receive proper care, as the “sleep disorder
centres“are very few in this country, and those available do not have the
facilities and expertise to treat all these diseases. So, there is a need to
have collaboration between sleep disorder professionals from various
disciplines to provide sleep related medical care to each and every patient.
At the moment, it is very expensive to get either diagnostic or treatment
facility for sleep disorders. Efforts should be made to design and develop
better equipments with the help of Indian industry. These products could
then be made available at a low cost. Such measures would result in import
substitution, and even promote export of these items.
I am extremely happy to announce that The American Academy of Sleep Medicine
(AASM) has offered to assist in starting International Sleep Medicine Board
Certification in eight countries outside the USA, including India. The AASM
recommended that each of these countries establish a 5-10 member Board
Examination Committee and to designate a chair of the committee. A ten
member Indian Board of Sleep Medicine headed by a Chair has been recently
constituted by the Indian Society for Sleep Research, for this purpose. This
committee is responsible for setting the qualifications to appear for the
examination, ensuring that a given candidate is eligible to sit for the
examination, determining the examination pass point, and for signing and
distributing the certificates of completion. The AASM will provide the first
initial examination to the Indian Board of Sleep Medicine in April 2012.
Kindly see the announcement at our website FOR MORE DETAILS.
I thank the past executives of ISSR, NSMC organizers, Board members and all
ISSR members for all you do for sleep science and sleep medicine in India.
It is because of you we are a vital thriving, successful ISSR.
Sincerely,
Hrudananda Mallick
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