FEATURED TRAINEE - Sukhpreet Tamana PhD

Sukhpreet Tamana is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta, Edmonton Canada. Her current role as a postdoctoral Sukhpreet Tamana is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta, Edmonton Canada. Her current role as a postdoctoral fellow involves developing a pilot behavioral sleep medicine clinical service at the Stollery Children’s Hospital Edmonton. She also conducts research using data from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) birth cohort study. As sleep problems affect between 25-50% of all children, her interests have been in determining whether sleep problems in childhood has adverse consequences for neurodevelopment.

HOW DID YOU GET INTERESTED IN BSM?

As postdoctoral fellow, I undertook a fellowship in clinical epidemiology under Dr. Piush Mandhane MD., PhD. (Pediatric Respirologist). Through my work on the CHILD Edmonton site, which involves an add-on study - the Sleep, Learning, hEalth, and Environment Project-Edmonton (SLEEP-E), we started to show that pre-school sleep disordered breathing symptoms and chronic short sleep had a greater impact on pre-school mental health than other important related factors such as parental depression, parenting stress. We recognized that many Canadian children were being underserved for their sleep problems. This peaked my interest in becoming a BSM specialist.

WHO ARE YOUR BSM MENTORS?

Dr. Sarah Morsbach Honaker PhD (Indiana University School of Medicine); Dr. Bruce Dick PhD R.Psych (Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Alberta); Dr. Piush Mandhane MD PhD (Pediatric Respirology, Pulmonary & Asthma, University of Alberta); as well as additional colleagues and collaborators.

WHAT EXPERIENCES HAVE HELPED SHAKE YOUR TRAINING IN BSM?

The best advice I ever received from my mentors was to find someone highly qualified in the BSM field and complete an observership with them. I was fortunate enough to connect with Dr. Sarah Morsbach Honaker and colleague Dr. Kate Lyn Walsh at Behavioral Sleep Medicine service at Riley Children’s Hospital. I also received funding from the Canadian Sleep and Circadian Network (CSCN) to pursue a mini clinical-research fellowship. Being a SBSM member has also provided opportunities to be exposed to a broader network of colleagues and clinical resources.

WHAT IS YOUR DREAM JOB?

My dream job would be to lead an independent program of research in pediatric sleep combined with clinical work. I’m particularly interested in treating sleep complaints in children with complex medical conditions, and this is a direction that I hope to pursue in the near future.

WHAT IS YOUR NEXT VACATION OR DREAM VACATION DESTINATION?

Living in Canada, I always dream about spending my vacations in warmer climates! I do love travelling and my next destinations will be Mexico, New Zealand, and Greece.