Ahmed Salem BaHammam

Dr. BaHammam is currently is a tenured Professor of Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine at King Saud University (KSU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. King Saud University awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award (2016) for his contribution to sleep medicine service, education, and research. He did his Respiratory and sleep medicine training at the University of Manitoba, Canada, with Mier Kryger (1994-1998).

Research and Scientific Journals Editorship:

He published around 300 scientific articles, more than 40 chapters, and two books. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Nat Sci Sleep (A Q1 journal), Associated Editor of Ann Thoracic Med, Frontiers in Neurology, Frontier in Psychiatry, and the founder and ex-editor of the J Nat Sci Med. Also, he is a member of the editorial board of several international medical journals.

Professor BaHammam's research focuses on several sleep-related topics, including obesity hypoventilation syndrome, central hypersomnolence disorders, and the impact of intermittent fasting and mealtime on sleep and circadian rhythm. He has received several grants for his research. He is ranked among the top 2% of researchers in Respirology in Stanford University and Elsevier database based on SCOPUS database, Career-long data are updated to end-of-2020. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/3 . And in the Top 0.55% of 74,192 published authors worldwide on Respiratory Insufficiency from 2011 through 2021. https://expertscape.com/au/respiratory+insufficiency/BaHammam%2C+Ahmed+S . He was also included in the list of “Pioneers and Thought Leaders in Sleep Medicine” in Kryger: Principles and Practices of Sleep Medicine, 5th Edition (2012).

Training Programs:

Prof. BaHammam established the first Academic Sleep Medicine Service in Arab countries in 1999, and the first structured Sleep Medicine Fellowship Program in Arab countries in 2009. So far, the program has graduated around 20 sleep medicine specialists from several Middle-Eastern countries. He also led the committee that developed the Saudi National Accreditation System of Sleep Medicine Physicians and Technologists in 2011. He also headed the Asian Committee that developed the Asian Accreditation Guidelines for Sleep Medicine in Asia (Published in Sleep Med 2021).

Prof. BaHammam also started specialized workshop programs for Polysomnography technology and scoring in several regional countries. So far, around 30 workshops have been organized in Riyadh, Dubai, and Amman

Society and specialty groups development:

Additionally, he is a co-founder of the Saudi Thoracic Society and the Annals of Thoracic Medicine journal in 2003.

At the Asian level, I was co-founder of the Asian Society of Sleep Medicine in 2014 He also established the Gulf Sleep Medicine Society, which comprises 6 Gulf Countries in 2010.

I am also a member of the Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology (SRN) Assembly’s Planning Committee: American Thoracic Society since 2018.

Administration:

Prof. BaHammam served as the National Delegate of the ERS in Saudi Arabia from 2009-2011, and the Governor of the American College of Chest Physician in Saudi Arabia for two terms (2000-2006).

Currently, he e is the Executive Director of Academic Affairs at the Medical City, King Saud University; the Director of Prince Naif Health Research Center; the Director, University Sleep Research Center; and the Ex-Director of the Research Ethics Council at the College of Medicine, King Saud University.

Further information about his work can be found at https://fac.ksu.edu.sa/ashammam/home