(Respiratory) Sleep Medicine | Postdoc Zhu Wenjun from Peking University People's Hospital Wins 2024 Wayne Hening Young Investigator Award
北京大学人民医院呼吸睡眠医学科博士后朱文君荣获2024年世界睡眠学会Wayne Hening青年研究者奖

2024-07-16

The International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (IRLSSG) held its annual meeting in the U.S. in June 2024. Postdoctoral fellow Zhu Wenjun, from the Department of (Respiratory) Sleep Medicine at Peking University People's Hospital (PKUPH), delivered an academic presentation on the phenotype and genotype research of primary Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) in China and received the 2024 Wayne Hening Young Investigator Award, being one of two recipients worldwide.

RLS has been considered a rare disease among East Asian populations. In 2019, Professor Han Fang from the Department of (Respiratory) Sleep Medicine at PKUPH led his team to establish a national RLS research network comprising over 30 sleep centers and collected data from more than 1,500 primary RLS patients and their close family members. Based on clinical, sleep monitoring, biochemical, and genetic analyses, their findings revealed several key insights. Some of these findings were published in the journal Sleep Medicine in 2024, gaining global attention. IRLSSG Chair and Harvard University Professor John Winkelman praised the research highly.

The International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (IRLSSG) is an organization of professionals committed to advancing basic and clinical research on Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). Their mission includes the cooperative planning, implementation, analysis, and reporting of multi-center studies with an international emphasis. The Wayne Hening Young Investigator Awards honor Professor Wayne Hening from Johns Hopkins University, who was the founding secretary of the World Sleep Society and an international authority on RLS research. The awards aim to reward young researchers who have demonstrated outstanding scientific abilities in the field of RLS research, encouraging them to continue their work in this field. Professor Wayne Hening visited Peking University People's Hospital in 2007 and helped establish the RLS diagnosis, treatment and research system.