Circadian and Sleep Health for a Healthy Kentucky (CASH-KY) is a consortium of scientists, physicians, and stakeholders committed to advancing research, fostering collaboration, and improving public health through the study of sleep and circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms and sleep are fundamental biological processes that are pillars of human health. Circadian clocks control sleep and wakefulness and regulate neural, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, metabolic, and cellular processes. Disruption of circadian rhythms and sleep results in a multitude of disease states, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, cognitive impairment, substance abuse, and many other biomedical concerns. In addition to their impact on human health and well-being, circadian clocks also influence agriculture, production of biofuels by fermentation, and microbial activity. CASH-KY is a transdisciplinary theme that aims to impact the challenges that disproportionately affect Kentuckians. CASH-KY operates around 2 core aims:
About Us
Our Aims
Who We Are
Our Advisory Board
What We Study
CASH-KY aims to connect researchers across disciplines to create strong collaborative teams that drive innovation in circadian and sleep science. CASH-KY members span 8 colleges and 27 departments at the University of Kentucky.
CASH-KY explores how sleep and circadian rhythms influence a wide range of health and biological processes. Our researchers study cardiovascular health, metabolic disorders, cognitive function, and mental health, investigating how disruptions to sleep and biological timing contribute to diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and neurodegeneration. We also apply engineering approaches to develop innovative sleep-monitoring tools and study the role of circadian biology in fields as diverse as entomology and pharmacology. By integrating research across disciplines — including medicine, biology, neuroscience, and public health — we aim to translate scientific discoveries into real-world solutions that improve health across Kentucky and beyond.
Our Members
College of Medicine - Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences, Pediatrics; Sex differences in atherosclerosis and AAA
College of Medicine - Neuroscience; Sleep apnea and Alzheimer's disease
College of Arts & Sciences - Psychology; Sleep disparities in Kentucky
College of Medicine - Surgery, Surgical Oncology; Microbiome and cancer
College of Medicine - Physiology; Circadian disruption and heart function
College of Education - Kinesiology and Health Promotion; Effect of sleep restriction on muscle contraction in humans
Colleges of Medicine and Engineering - Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Computer Science; Research computing; development of technology, artificial intelligence for circadian-based interventions
College of Medicine - Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry
College of Arts & Sciences - Biology; Mechanisms and neuroendocrine pathways by which the biological clock regulates physiology and behavior in vertebrates; circadian rhythms in gastrointestinal bacteria
College of Medicine - Physiology; Impact of the molecular clock and circadian rhythms on cardiac arrhythmia susceptibility
College of Engineering - Electrical and Computer Engineering; Technical advances in measuring sleep
College of Medicine - Neuroscience; Neural mechanisms leading to impaired circadian rhythms during aging and in pathological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, obesity, and diabetes
College of Medicine - Internal Medicine, Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences; Type 1 diabetes
College of Health Sciences - Clinical Nutrition; Changes in macronutrient intake during circadian time-restricted eating interventions
College of Medicine - Physiology, Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences; Circadian regulation of blood pressure and cardiovascular disease
College of Medicine - Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences; Role of smooth muscle BMAL1 in regulation of vascular smooth muscle contractile variability and blood pressure circadian rhythm
College of Medicine - Radiology; Fatty liver disease
College of Medicine and Veterans Affairs - Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC); Research Physiologist Lexington VA Healthcare System
College of Nursing - Nursing
College of Public Health - Biostatistics; Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, time-restricted eating as a circadian intervention in patients with mild cognitive impairment
College of Arts & Sciences - Psychology; Sleep and developmental psychopathology
College of Medicine - Internal Medicine, Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences; Clinical trials testing the efficacy of circadian interventions to improve metabolic dysfunction
College of Arts & Sciences - Biology; Seasonal/evolution
College of Public Health - Epidemiology and Environmental Health; Contributing to our sleep-related research efforts mainly using personal wearable air sensors
College of Public Health - Epidemiology and Environmental Health; My research focuses on environmental exposure assessment, including air pollution monitoring and modeling, geospatial data integration, and community-engaged environmental health research. An important direction of my current work is understanding how environmental exposures, including air pollution and related contextual factors, may affect sleep and related health outcomes, particularly among underserved populations in Kentucky and beyond
College of Medicine - Physiology; Sleep, brain metabolism, and Alzheimer's disease
Ketrell McWhorter, PhD, MBA, ACE-CPT, ACE-FNS
College of Public Health - Epidemiology and Environmental Health; Sleep as a key modifiable contributor to racial/ethnic disparities in perinatal outcomes and adult chronic diseases
College of Medicine - Internal Medicine; Sleep fragmentation and immune signaling in the brain and periphery
College of Medicine - Internal Medicine; Sleep fragmentation and circadian disruption in neuroinflammation and metabolic disease
College of Pharmacy - Pharmacy Practice and Science; MPI of REST Appalachia Sleep study
College of Medicine - Neuroscience; Effect of sleep fragmentation on the inflammatory response to cerebrovascular disease
College of Medicine - Pediatrics; Circadian regulation of blood pressure in children
College of Medicine - Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry; Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and sleep disruption
College of Medicine - Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences
College of Arts & Sciences - Biology; Genetics of sleep and sleep interventions to improve cognitive impairment
College of Medicine - Internal Medicine; Neural regulation of sleep and arousal during hypoglycemia
College of Medicine - Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine; Medical Director Sleep Disorders Center
College of Medicine - Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences; Timing of exercise on metabolic health
College of Medicine - Internal Medicine, Digestive Health and Gastroenterology
College of Arts & Sciences - Biology; Sex differences in circadian mechanisms underlying metabolic dysfunction and clinical trials testing the efficacy of circadian interventions to improve metabolic dysfunction
College Medicine - Internal Medicine, Digestive Health and Gastroenterology
College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment - Entomology; ClockLab analysis of circadian behaviors in honey bees
College of Arts & Sciences - Biology; How gonadal hormones, specifically estrogens, contribute to sex differences in fluid and energy homeostasis
Colleges of Agriculture, Food, and Environment/Medicine/ Pharmacy - Veterinary Science, Microbiology, Pharmaceutical Sciences; Molecular mechanisms underlying assembly and function of elaborate bacterial secretion systems, interplay with circadian rhythms of bacteria
College of Arts & Sciences - Biology; Neuroendocrine mechanisms regulating seasonal rhythms and migration-associated obesity
College of Public Health - Health Management and Policy; Sleep and its relationship to metabolic diseases
Elizabeth Schroder Stumpf, PhD
College of Medicine - Physiology; Role of heart circadian clock in regulating cardiovascular function and disease
College of Engineering - Biomedical Engineering; Brain state diagnosis and tracking for applications in sleep research
College of Arts & Sciences - Biology; Seasonal light effects on circadian regulation and photoperiodic encoding
College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment - Entomology; Impact of environmental stress tolerance on circadian behaviors in insects
College of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences; Enzymology of melatonin biosynthesis and its role in circadian regulation
College of Medicine, Ophthalmology - Sleep disturbances in juvenile Batten disease
College of Arts & Sciences - Psychology; EEG