Professor Kenneth Wright Jnr

Professor Kenneth Wright Jnr

Associate Editor: Kenneth P. Wright Jr. , PhD.

Ken Wright is Professor in the Department of Integrative Physiology, Director of the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory, and member Center for Neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is also Adjunct Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Diabetes and member Nutrition and Obesity Research Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Dr. Wright received his BS in Psychology from the University of Arizona and began his career in sleep under the direction of Richard R. Bootzin, PhD. He received his MA and PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience and a postdoc in Sleep and Circadian Rhythms from Bowling Green State University under the direction of Pietro Badia PhD. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Sleep and Circadian Medicine in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital under the Direction of Charles A. Czeisler PhD, MD.  He served on the Faculty at Harvard Medical School prior to joining the Faculty at the University of Colorado in 2002.  He serves as chair of the program committee for the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS). He has chaired the circadian rhythms section of the Sleep Research Society (SRS), the trainee professional development day for the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms and has served as a member of the SRS presidential task forces. He has served on the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) task force on the evaluation and treatment of circadian rhythm sleep disorders, was a member of the AASM Circadian Rhythm Disorders workgroup for the International Classification of Sleep Disorders Revision 3 (ICSD-3), was editor of the SRS bulletin and the Trainee Manual in Sleep Research for the APSS, and was co-chair for the World Federation Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine Societies Trainee Development Day. He currently serves as a member of the National Institutes of Health – National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board. Dr. Wright has served as a reviewer for numerous national and international grant agencies; he serves as a consultant for government agencies, universities and industry, and as a reviewer for numerous journals. He has published over 80 original articles and reviews and was guest editor for a special issue of Sleep Medicine Clinics: Basics of Circadian Biology and Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders.

Dr. Wright’s research is aimed at explaining the physiology of sleep and circadian timing in humans, understanding the health and safety consequences of sleep and circadian disruption, such as obesity and impaired cognition, and applying that knowledge to improve public health and safety. His research is also aimed at developing strategies to promote sleep, wakefulness, and health due to insufficient sleep and circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders.