Senior Behavioral and Social Scientist - RAND Corporation

Wendy Troxel is a senior behavioral and social scientist at the RAND Corporation and an adjunct professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and certified behavioral sleep medicine specialist. Troxel’s research focuses on understanding the links between close relationships and sleep, and how this relationship may influence couples’ health and functioning. She has published two seminal review papers on this topic and is recognized as the leading authority on sleep within the context of couples.

Troxel has received several awards and honors for her research from national and international scientific societies, and her work has been published in top-tier medical and psychological journals. Her research is funded by the National Heart Lung Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. She is also an active clinical psychologist with a focus on behavioral (non-pharmacologic) treatments for sleep disorders. She was the founding director of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine accredited training program in behavioral sleep medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, and remains on its advisory board. She has leadership roles in several professional sleep societies, including the Society of Behavioral Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.

Troxel’s research has received widespread media attention, including print and television interviews on CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, MSNBC, and CNN, and she has a regular blog on sleep on Huffington Post. Troxel received her Ph.D. in clinical/health psychology from the University of Pittsburgh.