Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation Blog

December 10, 2020

The RLS community has lost a giant in the field of Sleep Medicine and RLS research, Dr. Richard P. Allen.

Richard P. Allen, PhD, was a professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He founded and served as the co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Restless Legs Syndrome, one of the Foundation’s certified RLS Quality Care Centers. Dr. Allen was a diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine and founder of the International Restless Legs Study Group (IRLSSG).

In his dual roles as a clinician and researcher, he dedicated his life's work to RLS education, management, and treatment. He was instrumental in creating the RLS diagnostic criteria and rating scales for use in clinical and research settings, using consensus guidelines to provide state of the art care to RLS patients.

Research is an active part of the sleep medicine program at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Allen authored or co-authored 661 peer-reviewed RLS journal articles that include the consensus guidelines for the iron treatment of RLS, prevention and treatment of dopaminergic augmentation, genetics, and the RLS glutamate relationship. He authored book chapters, and editorials, as well as chairing NIH sections and symposiums on RLS.

RLS Foundation Executive Director, Karla Dzienkowski spoke of his importance to the field. "Dr. Allen was the leading expert in the field of RLS. He was respected and admired by his peers, who relied on his insight as a researcher and clinician. We will all miss him, especially the patients who were the recipients of his outstanding care."

Dr. Allen served as Chair of the Foundation's Medical Advisory Board during 1998 to 2000, served on that Board through 2008, and made significant contributions to the RLS Foundation. In 2000, he received the Foundation’s Ekbom Award, the highest award given to an individual who has enhanced the lives of those living with the disease.

The RLS Foundation has set up the Richard Allen Memorial Fund to be used to further RLS research. To contribute and honor Dr. Allen’s memory go to www.rls.org/AllenFund.