Holy Cross Senior Earns NIH Fellowship for Sleep Research

WORCESTER, Mass. – Amy Wolfson, professor of psychology at the College of the Holy Cross and preeminent scholar on sleep, has been awarded a grant of nearly $75,000 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), a branch of the National Institutes of Health, to fund a research fellowship for Andrea Azuaje, class of 2008.  Wolfson will serve as a mentor to Azuaje as she completes a project that will examine sleep disturbances among disadvantaged adolescents.

Azuaje, a psychology major with a minor in childhood studies, says recent research studies suggest that sleep disturbance is more prevalent among individuals with a lower socioeconomic status.

“I will be investigating the influence of socio-economic status and culture on sleep patterns and other related health variables,” explains Azuaje. “ It is essential for us to grasp a better understanding of these factors to see how they influence behavior in school and overall emotional stability.”

Azuaje will start her fellowship this spring and will continue for a year and a half. Next semester she will work part-time and when she graduates in May she will take on the project full time.

In addition to her work, she will be assisting Wolfson with her “Sleep-Smart” Project. In 2005 Wolfson received a four-year grant of $1.07 million for this sleep research study, which is largest research grant awarded to an individual in the College’s history.

The program assesses young adolescents’ sleep habits and evaluates the efficacy of her “Sleep-Smart Pacesetter” Program on middle school students from Worcester’s Forest Grove and Sullivan Middle schools. While significant research has been conducted on older adolescents, middle school-aged adolescents’ sleep patterns and daytime functioning have been understudied.

Azuaje has worked with Wolfson for the last three years as a volunteer research assistant for the “Sleep-Smart” Program, where she was responsible for conducting young adolescent student interviews, data entry, downloading actigraphs, and creating and editing weekly parent newsletters.  This semester she will co-lead the “Sleep-Smart Pacesetter” Program, a preventive-intervention curriculum, where she will be teaching the curriculum to seventh graders in the Worcester Public Schools.

“Ms. Azuaje has had research and clinical experiences, beyond what is typical of a college senior,” says Wolfson.  “It is impressive to see how she seeks out new and enriching experiences, particularly in the area of childhood studies."

In addition to being mentored by Wolfson, Azuaje will be learning from Monique LeBourgeois, assistant professor at the Center for the Study of Human Development of Brown University, Mona El-Sheikh, alumni professor of human development and family studies at Auburn University, and Oneka LaBennett, assistant professor of anthropology at Holy Cross. During next semester she plans to visit LeBourgeois at Brown every few weeks to assist her with her sleep research on preschoolers and to plan her own project.

After she completes her fellowship, Azuaje plans to earn her Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

“Eventually, I would like to either work in a hospital setting or have my own private practice,” says Azuaje. “At this point in my career, I am extremely interested in the behavioral and emotional aspects of child and adolescent development.”

Born in Caracas, Venezuela and raised in West Harrison, N.Y., Azuaje is an active participant in the Holy Cross Community. She is a member of the peer mentoring program and was a resident counselor for the Odyssey program, which helps freshmen adjust to college life.

“I am very excited for this coming semester and next year,” she exclaims. “This is a wonderful beginning to my career.”