For Milt Kramer, MD ’54, BS ’52, medical school was more his parents’ dream than his own. “If you come from a Jewish immigrant background, you can be one of two things: a doctor or a truck driver. Being a doctor is portable, like having diamonds,” he says.
According to Kramer, attending UIC’s College of Medicine was a wonderful experience during which he received “world-class basic science training” from “very distinguished” faculty members. “They insisted that you learn, but they were not going to leave it up to you. There was enormous involvement from the faculty,” he says.
Kramer eventually developed an interest in psychiatry. The discovery of REM sleep, which occurred while Kramer was in medical school, helped steer his future work. As a dream researcher, he was one of a handful of founding members of the Association of Sleep Disorders Centers (now the Academy of Sleep Medicine).
Since then, Kramer’s work has helped shape the current understanding of dreaming as important and necessary brain work. He’s investigated a wide range of topics in the field, and has written hundreds of articles, abstracts and book reviews. Retired since 1999, Kramer is still recognized as a leader in the field: In 2003, he was honored with the Jubilee Award from the Sleep Research Society.