Meet Your Support Team

Dr. Ward is a Professor in the School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington and the former Co-Director of the Center for Innovation in Sleep Self-Management. Teresa has a clinical and research background as a sleep nurse practitioner at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) where she conducted cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for behavioral sleep problems in children and adolescents with and without chronic health conditions, and their families.

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Sleep deficiency including inadequate amounts of sleep and/or poor quality is common in children with chronic health conditions and is also associated with increased symptoms of pain & fatigue, and poorer quality of life. Despite the pervasiveness of sleep deficiency, neither children nor their parents receive any training in self-management strategies (activation, motivation, self-efficacy) to improve sleep before transitioning into adolescence. Clinical resources to address sleep deficiency are either not available or involve long waiting periods, creating a significant unmet clinical need. My team and I seek to find solutions that give children and parents the knowledge, motivation, and skills necessary to set goals and problem-solve to improve their sleep that will be delivered to families in an accessible format.

George Demiris is a PIK (Penn Integrates Knowledge) University Professor in the School of Nursing with a joint appointment in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He obtained his PhD degree in Health Informatics from the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on the design, implementation and evaluation of patient-centered technologies for patients and families in various community settings to facilitate patient engagement and shared decision making. He is a Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics and the Gerontological Society of America.

Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics Seattle Children's

Dr. Ringold is an assistant professor in the Division of Rheumatology at Seattle Children's. She obtained her MS in epidemiology from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. In addition to providing clinical care to children with rheumatic diseases, Dr. Ringold has an active clinical research program focused on children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Dr. Ringold's primary areas of interest are disease outcomes, including assessment of patient-reported outcomes, and the comparative effectiveness of treatments in this population. Her current research includes observational and interventional research that leverages the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) patient registry. She recently led the development of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) guidelines for the treatment of children with polyarthritis, sacroiliitis, and enthesitis. She previously co-led the development of their treatment guidelines for systemic arthritis. She currently serves as the Vice Chair for the CARRA JIA Research Committee.

Maeve Edstrom is an Information Management graduate student at University of Washington. Maeve has over twelve years of professional experience specializing in consulting, information design and branding. At UW, she is advancing skills in user experience design and information architecture and has a deep interest in accessible design. Maeve has a BFA in Communication Design from University of North Texas.

Dr. Tonya Palermo is a pediatric psychologist and Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at University of Washington, and Associate Director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. She directs the Pediatric Pain & Sleep Innovations Lab that aims to improve the lives of children with pain and their families through developing, evaluating, and disseminating innovative treatments. Dr. Palermo has developed and tested web- and mobile-based pain management programs in children with chronic headache, abdominal, musculoskeletal, and sickle cell pain. She has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and two books on cognitive-behavioral therapy for pediatric chronic pain. Dr. Palermo is Editor of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology and Treasurer of the American Pain Society.

Martha Cagley earned her BA degree at the University of Washington, and later, her Master of Science degree in Psychology: Evaluation, Research and Measurement from Capella University in 2013. She has been working with the Northwest Research Group on Aging at the University Of Washington School Of Nursing for the last eleven years, with much of that time serving as a Cognitive and Behavior Therapy (CBT) for Insomnia interventionist and coach in several studies. Martha has an extensive background in exercise instruction, and has acted as the NWRGA’s expert in development, training, and supervision of exercise intervention protocols. as well as continuing to investigate the relationship between exercise and sleep. She has an avid interest in sleep behavior, and particular enthusiasm in working with children and their families. 

Ching has been a research coordinator in pediatric rheumatology at Seattle Children’s Hospital for over 10 years. She has worked on multiple sleep studies in collaboration with the University of Washington. She enjoys traveling and spending time with her family (especially to theme parks like Disneyland).

Christina Hussain received a B.A. in International Studies from American University and an M.A. in Education from San Francisco State University. She is currently a graduate student in the University of Washington’s iSchool and in the Human Centered Design and Engineering program, where her focus is on information experience research and design. Prior to beginning her studies at UW, Christina worked in school operations and administration, most recently as the Assistant Head of a Montessori school in San Francisco.

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Please note that, as of July 9, 2019, Christina has graduated from UW and is no longer working with the SLEEPSMART study.