Charles Czeisler

Charles A. Czeisler (born 1952, Chicago, Illinois) is an American physician and sleep researcher. He is a researcher and author in the fields of both circadian rhythms and sleep medicine.

Background and education

Czeisler graduated from Harvard College, magna cum laude in 1974, with a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He received his Ph.D. in Neuro- and Bio-behavioral Sciences and his M.D. from Stanford University. His undergraduate thesis was focused on cortisol timing release. As a graduate student at Stanford, Czeisler continued his research in Dr. William Dement's lab. Elliot Weitzman, who both worked with and mentored Czeisler, influenced Czeisler to study sleep. Today, Czeisler is the Baldino Professor of Sleep Medicine and Director of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Additionally, he works as the Division Chief of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Czeisler has spent over 30 years researching the relationship between human sleep and the physiology of the human circadian clock and teaching a course at Harvard College on Circadian Biology for undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to his work at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Czeisler is a Diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine, an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, the International Academy of Astronautics and the American Clinical and Climatological Association, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, American Society for Clinical Investigation, and Association of American Physicians.