Dr. Schenck was born in New York City in 1951, received his B.A. degree from the Johns Hopkins University in 1972, and his M.D. degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1976. He completed a Psychiatry Residency at the University of Minnesota in 1980, where he is currently a Professor and senior staff psychiatrist at the Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis. Since 1982 he has been a staff physician at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center (located at HCMC). In 1985-7, Dr. Schenck and colleagues reported on a new category of Parasomnia (sleep behavior disorder) that they named REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD). In 1996 Dr. Schenck and colleagues first reported that RBD commonly heralds future Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies, thus initiating a major international research effort in this area. In 2009 Dr. Schenck was the Founding President of the International RBD Study Group (IRBD-SG) that consists of nearly 200 members from 5 continents, and that has held yearly research symposia, including the June 2024 meeting at Oxford University. To date this group has published more than 20 collaborative peer-reviewed medical journal articles, and additional Editorials in major medical journals.

Dr. Schenck and colleagues also identified/named/classified other parasomnias, including Sleep-Related Eating Disorder, Sexsomnia, Parasomnia Overlap Disorder (RBD + Sleepwalking/Night Terrors), Sleep Related (Psychogenic) Dissociative Disorders, Epic Dream Disorder; Sleep-Related Injury and Violence spectrum, Parasomnia Pseudo-Suicide, and more.

Dr. Schenck was Co-Chair of the Parasomnias Committee for The International Classification of Sleep Disorders-2nd Edition (ICSD-2) published in 2005, was a member of the Parasomnias Committee for the ICSD-3 published in 2014, and was a member of the Task Force for the ICSD-3-Text Revision published in 2023. He also served as an Associate Editor of the journal Sleep (official journal of the Sleep Research Society) from 2010-2021. Dr. Schenck has been an expert peer-reviewer for manuscripts submitted to more than 135 medical journals, from 1986-2024. Dr. Schenck continues to participate in NIH funded research studies on REM sleep behavior disorder. He is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Sleep Research Society, World Sleep Society, and European Sleep Research Society. He is also on the Editorial Boards of the official sleep medicine journals in Korea, Turkey, Brazil, and Latin America. Dr. Schenck has been a Lifetime Honorary Member of La Academia Mexicana de Neurología, A.C. since 2010, and a Lifetime Honorary Member of La Sociedad Española de Sueño since 2021.

Awards

1. “William C. Dement, M.D. Academic Achievement Award in Sleep Medicine”, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2007.

2. Sleep Research Society “Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award”, 2010.

3. American Academy of Neurology, “Sleep Science Award”, 2017.

4. University of Bern, Switzerland “Bernese Sleep Award”, 2022.