Current Postdoc Spotlight

Megan Ruiter, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology

Dr. Ruiter received her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the University of Arizona in 2005, graduating Summa cum Laude under the mentorship of Richard R. Bootzin, PhD.  Dr. Ruiter matriculated to the University of Alabama, earning her MA in Psychology in 2008 and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 2011 under Kenneth L. Lichstein, Ph.D. Dr. Ruiter’s Master’s thesis examined ethnic group differences between African-Americans and Caucasian Americans in normal and disordered sleep.  Her Ph.D. dissertation examined working memory capacity’s influence on adherence to behavioral insomnia therapy. She then completed a clinical psychology internship training program at the University of California-San Diego  in 2011 under Sean Drummond, Ph.D. In the summer of 2011, she came to UAB as a postdoctoral fellow, funded by an AHRQ Health Services and Research T-32 grant under the mentorship of Lawrence A. Bradley, Ph.D. She also supported by the UAB Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center as a Health Disparities Research Training Program scholar. Her current research focuses on sleep health disparities across sociodemographic groups in connection with the development of chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, cardiometabolic syndrome, and osteoarthritis. Her work on lack of sleep in connection to future stroke symptoms among normal weight individuals from the REGARDS study was recently featured on MSNBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and the front page of USA Today.