John Winkelman, M.D., Ph.D.


Physician Investigator (Cl)
Psychiatry, Mass General Research Institute
Professor of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School
Psychiatrist
Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
MD Harvard Medical School 1987
PhD Harvard University 1983
gamma-aminobutyric acid; insomnia; major depressive disorder; mobile apps; noctural leg cramps; nocturnal myoclonus syndrome; opioids; polysomnography; restless legs syndrome; sleep; sleep initiation and maintenance disorders

Dr. Winkelman received his PhD in Psychobiology from Harvard University, an MD from Harvard Medical School and then completed both a residency in Psychiatry and a fellowship in Sleep Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was Medical Director of the Sleep Program at McLean Hospital and subsequently Medical Director of the sleep laboratory at Brigham and Women'ss Hospital. He is currently an Associate Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Sleep Disorders Clinical Research Program in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Winkelman's research has primarily focused in two areas: 1) epidemiology, physiology, cardiovascular consequences and treatment of restless legs syndrome, and 2) neurobiology and treatment of insomnia. He has lectured in and directed post-graduate medical education courses in sleep disorders nationally and internationally. Dr. Winkelman is chair of the American Academy of Neurology practice parameter committee for the treatment of Restless Legs Syndrome, on the Executive committee of the International RLS Study Group, is an Associate Editor of Sleep and serves on the editorial boards of Sleep Medicine and CNS Drugs. He has published more than 100 articles, reviews and book chapters and is also the editor of the textbook Foundations of Psychiatric Sleep Medicine, Cambridge University Press (2011).