THE CRE TEAM | CRE INVESTIGATOR BIOGRAPHIES
The National Centre for Sleep Health Services Research is led by a team of internationally-renowned experts in sleep, respiratory medicine, psychology, general practice, nursing, pharmacy, epidemiology, health services, translation and policy research, health economics and sleep health technology. This diverse group has strong research links and a history of multi-disciplinary collaboration. For more information please see below.
Chief Investigators
Emeritus Professor Doug McEvoy AM
Flinders University of South Australia
Emeritus Professor Doug McEvoy AM is the immediate past Director of the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health at Flinders University in South Australia. He was an NHMRC Practitioner Fellow between 2005 and 2020 and is Senior Principal Research Fellow at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute. He has been active in clinical sleep medicine practice and research for over 35 years, and has had many professional leadership roles including as president of the Australasian Sleep Association, board member of the Sleep Health Foundation and Chair of the Professional Standards Committee of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand. He has led several major multi-centre clinical trials in sleep medicine, including the international Sleep Apnoea Cardiovascular Endpoints study (SAVE). Professor McEvoy received the Distinguished Achievement Award of the Australasian Sleep Association in 2011 and, in 2021, was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his outstanding contributions to sleep and respiratory research and sleep medicine. His vision and stewardship has seen the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health become one of the world’s leading sleep research centres.
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Professor Nigel Stocks
University of Adelaide
Professor Stocks is Head of the Discipline of General Practice at the University of Adelaide and Director of the only National Primary Care influenza surveillance Network in Australia (ASPREN). He is a general practitioner (FRACGP) and public health physician (FAFPHM). He is an experienced primary health care researcher who has conducted both qualitative and quantitative studies including randomised controlled trials (RCTs), cohort and observational studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. His main interests are in cardiovascular, respiratory and infectious disease, prevention and quality of life with an emphasis on clinical and health services research. He has successfully recruited patients to large (ASPREE and WISDOM) and many smaller RCTs. For several years he was the RACGP SA/NT Faculty Chair, a member and Chair of their national Council and member of their research committee. He now supports the College as Chair of their National Awards Committee and member of their Research Foundation. He is also chair of the National Prescribing Service Data Governance Committee with oversight of the largest and most comprehensive set of GP morbidity data ( 3.5 million patients) – Medicineinsight – in Australia.
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Professor Nicholas Zwar
Bond University
Professor Zwar has a national and international reputation in health services research for prevention and management of chronic illness with a focus on chronic respiratory disease and tobacco control as well as collaborating in projects in prevention in practice, teamwork, cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes. His work on chronic disease care planning in general practice and on asthma care has had an important influence on Australian health care policy.
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Professor RON grunstein
University of Sydney
Professor Ron Grunstein has been a consultant physician in sleep disorders for over 30 years and a pioneer in improving patient care in sleep medicine in Australia and internationally. He is currently a Senior Principal Research Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC’s highest level research appointment) and Professor of Sleep Medicine at the University of Sydney. Ron heads the Sleep and Circadian Research Group at the Woolcock Institute. He is CI on both the National Centre for Sleep Health Services Research – Positioning Primary Care at the Centre of Sleep Health Management and the Centre of Research Excellence to Optimise Sleep in Brain Ageing and Neurodegeneration (CogSleep). As well, he is Program Leader in the Co-operative Research Centre in Alertness, Safety and Productivity part-funded by the Commonwealth Department of Industry to answer the challenge of poor sleep and sleepiness impacting on driving, work and society in general. From 2007-2011, Professor Grunstein served as President of the World Sleep Federation, the roof body for sleep researchers and clinicians internationally organising successful world congresses in Cairns and Kyoto. He was awarded the Australasian Sleep Association Distinguished Achievement Award in 2010, the Kleitman Award, the premier award of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in 2011 and the Royal Prince Alfred Foundation Medal for Excellence in Medical Research in 2012. In 2014, he received the Distinguished Professor Award from the Sydney Medical School. He has published over 320 peer reviewed articles in sleep research and 40 book chapters. He has a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and MD degrees from The University of Sydney and a PhD from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
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A/Professor CHING li chai-coetzer
Flinders University of South Australia
Associate Professor Chai-Coetzer is a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Flinders University and a Respiratory and Sleep Physician who is Clinical Lead of the Sleep Health Service, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network. Her principal research interests are in sleep medicine clinical trials with a focus on primary care-based, health service delivery models for OSA, limited-channel sleep study testing, and optimising treatment adherence for OSA patients.
Associate Professor Chai-Coetzer completed her PhD in 2012 in which she evaluated a new program for delivering sleep apnoea services by GPs and practice nurses in the community. This work has formed the foundation for the National Centre for Sleep Health Services Research which aims to place primary care at the centre of sleep disorders service delivery. In recognition of her career accomplishments to date and potential significance of her research work to the sleep field internationally, she was awarded the highly prestigious American Thoracic Society 2015 James B. Skatrud New Investigator Award. She has served on the Board of the Australasian Sleep Association (ASA) and as the ASA Education Committee Chair from 2017-2021.
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emeritus Professor Leon Lack
Flinders University of South Australia
Professor Lack has extensive research experience in basic sleep processes, circadian (24-hour) rhythms, insomnia treatment, and napping research. He is frequently invited to give professional development workshops for health professionals, speak at national and international conferences, and educate the general public through lectures and media appearances. His research and clinical experience has resulted in the development of wearable therapeutic devices and patents for the administration of bright light therapy helpful in the treatment of certain phenotypes of insomnia and circadian rhythm disorders as well as the treatment of sleep onset insomnia.
For the last 20 years he has directed a clinic for the non-drug treatment of insomnia at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health (AISH) and has supervised many clinical masters and PhD students in this area. He was a co-founder of the Australasian Sleep Association and its president from 1989-1992.
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Professor Robert Adams
Flinders University of South Australia
Professor Robert Adams, MBBS, FRACP, FRCP (London), MD is a specialist respiratory and general physician with extensive experience in public health, clinical epidemiology and health services research. He completed post-doctoral training at the Channing Laboratory, Harvard Medical School and is currently appointed as Professor in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University.
Prof Adams has extensive experience with large population based cohort studies. He is Principal Investigator of The North West Adelaide Health Study (NWAHS) and co-led the process of harmonisation with the Florey Adelaide Male Ageing Study (FAMAS), such that there are now over 2000 men aged over 35 being followed in the Male Androgen, Inflammation, Lifestyle, Environment and Stress (MAILES) study with a further 2000 women in the cohort. He was responsible for the conduct of sleep studies in almost 850 men in the MAILES cohort, one of the largest studies worldwide of sleep health in the community.
He has designed and successfully implemented trials in the diagnosis and management of asthma, health service improvement and initiated cohort studies in mental health patients. He has been CI on NHMRC and ARC projects that examine health ageing in relation to obesity, and spatial epidemiology of metabolic health.
He has authored 185 peer-reviewed publications in journals and books, including top ranked journals in clinical endocrinology (Diabetes Care), allergy (Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology), sleep (Sleep), respiratory medicine (Lancet Respiratory Medicine; American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine), and general medicine (Lancet).
Prof Adams has also contributed to health system safety research and practice. He led the TeamSTEPPS teamwork training program at SA Health and is a member of the board of the Australian Patient Safety Foundation. He was the Inaugural Chair of the SA Health Literacy Alliance. He is a member of the Translational Methods Sub-committee of the newly formed South Australian Advanced Health and Research Translation Centre, one of the four recognised nationally by the NHMRC.
Prof Adams is a founding member of Cumberland.au, a multidisciplinary group including clinicians, mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists and others, that aims to apply systems thinking, design thinking, mathematical modelling (including the use of simulation), and operations research to achieve lasting transformative reform in healthcare.
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Professor SallY Redman
The Sax Institute
Professor Sally Redman AO is the Chief Executive Officer of the Sax Institute, which was established in 2002 to forge better links between research and policy. Professor Redman is an international leader in driving the use of research in policy, programs and service delivery at the Sax Institute and in her previous role as the inaugural Director of the National Breast Cancer Centre. She recently led a National Health and Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence aimed at testing ways to increase the capacity of policy agencies to use research. Professor Redman’s background is in public health and health services research and she has over 200 peer reviewed publications. In 2013, she was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia for her distinguished service to public health and the promotion of relationships between researchers, policy makers and practitioners. She received the President’s Award from the National Heart Foundation in 2017.
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A/Professor Andrew Vakulin
Flinders University of South Australia
Associate Professor Andrew Vakulin is a NHMRC R.D. Wright Biomedical Career Development Fellow (2019-2022), and a Senior Research Fellow at Flinders University, College of Medicine and Public Health, based at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health (AISH). He is also an Honorary Associate at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. For the last 6 years Dr Vakulin has also been a national Project Leader in the CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity (Alertness CRC).
A/Prof Vakulin has research interest and expertise investigating the impact of sleep loss and sleep disorders on daytime sleepiness, neurobiology and neurobehavioral dysfunction, particularly in relation to operational performance and motor vehicle accident risk. His current focus is on biomarker discovery to develop innovative ways to assess fitness to drive/work in patients with sleep disorders. More recently he has also focused on simplified models of care for sleep disorders and sleep health services research in primary care. Particularly, A/Prof Vakulin has been leading the development of innovative online sleep health decision support tools and digital sleep health solutions, utilising new monitoring technologies for simplified screening, diagnosis and management of sleep disorders in the community and primary care working closely with industry partners.
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Professor Steven Wesselingh
South Australia Health and Medical Research Institute
In October 2011 Professor Wesselingh took up the position as the inaugural Executive Director of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). Professor Wesselingh has also been appointed as the Infection and Immunity Theme Leader for the institute.
Professor Wesselingh was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University, from 2007-2011. Prior to taking up the Deanship, he was Director of the Burnet Institute, an independent medical research institute specialising in infectious diseases, immunology and public health.
Professor Wesselingh undertook his undergraduate and doctoral training at Flinders University/Flinders Medical Centre in South Australia and his post-doctoral training at Johns Hopkins in the United States.
Professor Wesselingh is an Infectious Diseases Physician and researcher in Neurovirology, HIV and vaccine development. He has consistently worked towards the integration of high quality medical research with health-care delivery, leading to improved health outcomes for Australia and the poorly resourced countries of the region.
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ASSOCIATE Investigators
A/Professor billingsley kaambwa
Flinders University of South Australia
Billingsley Kaambwa is an Associate Professor in Health Economics and Head of Health Economics within the College of Medicine and Public Health at the Flinders University of South Australia. His main research interests are in the application of econometric and statistical techniques in economic evaluation, decision analytic modelling and economic evaluation of new and existing health care technologies. He has published in leading international peer-reviewed journals for both methodological (e.g. Value in Health, PharmacoEconomics) and applied (e.g. The Lancet, JAMA, European Journal of Health Economics) work. He has been a co-applicant on successful grant applications that total more than $20 million. He sits on the editorial boards of 'PLoS One' and 'PharmacoEconomics Open'.
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Professor Richard Reed
Flinders University of South Australia
Professor Richard Reed is Head of the Discipline of General Practice at Flinders University and has been an active researcher throughout his career. He is also head of the Primary Care Research and Innovation Service, a research centre based within the School of Medicine at Flinders University. Prof Reed has mentored over 50 early career researchers and supervised 3 Master’s and 5 Ph.D. degree candidates. His research emphasis is on implementation of complex interventions within primary care with a special emphasis on chronic disease. He has previously been a CI on an NHMRC project (findings published) by this research group developing and testing a protocol for management of sleep disorders within primary care.
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Professor Karen Reynolds
Flinders University of South Australia
Professor Karen Reynolds is a highly awarded Biomedical Engineer. She is Dean (Research) of the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University and Director of the Medical Device Research Institute (MDRI) and the Medical Device Partnering Program (MDPP). The MDPP was established by Karen as an innovative and highly-successful initiative which harnesses university expertise to help companies or inventors looking to develop cutting-edge medical devices and bring their products to market.
Karen is considered one of Australia’s leading researchers in the fields of biomechanical modelling, simulation for medical training, and smart instrumentation for medicine and surgery. She is a Theme Leader in the Alertness CRC and provides expertise in utilising CRC technologies and systems towards clinical validation and integration into primary care.
Recognised for her outstanding contributions Karen was awarded the 2018 Flinders University Convocation Medal, became an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia, an elected Fellow of Australian Academy of Health & Medical Sciences, was named one of Zonta Club of Adelaide’s Women of Achievement for 2017, awarded Engineers Australia’s David Dewhurst Award in 2016,South Australian Scientist of the Year 2012, elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences in 2011, and awarded Australian Professional Engineer of the Year in 2010.
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Professor Bandana saini
The University of Sydney
Dr Saini trained as a pharmacist in Chandigarh, India (1990) and after completing a Masters in Business Administration (1996, University of Western Sydney) she changed her research direction exploring pharmacy health services, an area which strategically combines her pharmacy background and an understanding of management principles in which she conducted her PhD (2004, University of Sydney). A/Prof Saini has led and collaborated in implementing and evaluating several successful pharmacy-based models that involve screening/case detection (sleep disorders, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, patient self-management (allergic rhinitis, sleep disorders, asthma) and clinical audits (sleep medications), as well as pharmacovigilance (sleep medications). She has embarked on developing the role of pharmacy in sleep health, and she is one of the few pharmacy-based researchers publishing in this area globally.
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Doctor Nicole Lovato
Flinders University of South Australia
Dr. Lovato is a Senior Research Fellow at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health, Flinders University. Her research is focused on the basic and clinical aspects of sleep, circadian rhythms, and sleep disorders such as insomnia, and the translation of this knowledge to ensure best-practice sleep healthcare is accessible and cost-effective for the community. Her research has been funded by the NHMRC, ARC, Department of Defence, CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity and various industry sources. She has received several awards for her work including the South Australian Young Tall Poppy, Vice Chancellor’s Award for Early Career Researcher, and an Australian Psychological Association Early Career Researcher Award.
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A/Professor Christopher Gordon
The University of Sydney
Associate Professor Christopher Gordon is a nurse academic at the Susan Wakil School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney. He is recognised as a leader of nurse education nationally and has received numerous teaching awards. Associate Professor Gordon is an insomnia and chronobiology research leader at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. He is the leading sleep nurse scientist in Australia and his research examines the interaction between phenotyping, pathophysiology and treatment of insomnia. He is currently the national Project Leader of the insomnia program in the CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity (Alertness CRC). His research work in the Alertness CRC has been in the development of novel translational digital therapies and he leads a multidisciplinary team investigating the use of technology such as mobile apps and wearable trackers for the treatment of insomnia.
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Professor Peter Catcheside
Flinders University of South Australia
Peter Catcheside is a Professor in the College of Medicine, Flinders University. He completed his PhD in exercise physiology and worked in a range of exercise physiology, respiratory and sleep scientific support roles before joining the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health (AISH), where he now leads a multi-disciplinary team of sleep and respiratory researchers. His work is mainly focussed on understanding physiological processes underpinning respiratory and cardiovascular disturbances during sleep towards direct translation into improved measurements, diagnostic and treatment approaches for a range of sleep and breathing problems. He is currently involved in a range of clinical trials and leading physiology studies to improve breathing effort assessment in sleep and during mechanical ventilation and a large 5 year project investigating environmental noise effects on sleep.
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A/Professor Sutupa Mukherjee
Flinders University of South Australia
Assoc Prof Mukherjee is a respiratory and sleep physician and researcher. Her qualifications include MBBS, FRACP (Respiratory Medicine and Sleep) and PhD. Her initial research career focused on respiratory epidemiology yet her thesis was on gene therapy of lung malignancy which involved immunology and cancer gene therapy. Subsequently she undertook her postdoctoral Fellowship on occupational epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health in 2000 and was successful at attracting US grant funding. After returning to Perth in 2003 she worked clinically and was instrumental in developing and leading the Western Australia Sleep Health Study. In 2011 she was appointed to the University of Toronto (Assistant Professor) and Clinical Lead of the Ontario Health study (a population-based health study which was able to recruit over 230,000 participants with her leadership). She was able to combine research with clinical work (respiratory and sleep physician at Women’s College Hospital). On return to Australia in 2014 she works clinically as a sleep and respiratory physician and is an Assoc Prof in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at Flinders University. She has worked as a sleep epidemiologist for over 10 years and her main areas of interest are sleep genetics, sleep epidemiology including Sleep Health and gender differences in sleep apnoea. She has a unique internationally recognized skill set based on excellent clinical skills; an ability to operationalize large cohort studies to collect high quality epidemiologic data; and strong leadership with a collaborative and inclusive approach. She has been successful in obtaining international grant funding and publishing in high impact journals. She was elected as President of the Australasian Sleep Association in October 2021 and has been Co-Chair of the Guideline Leadership Group of the National Covid-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce since April 2020.
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Professor Mark Mackay
University of South Australia
Mark has 30 years of experience in the application of multi-disciplinary applied research and strategic projects in various industries, including education, the health sector and economic development. Mark has a particular interest in the application of data and modelling to improve decision-making in the education and health sectors. As well as being a director of Complete the Picture, Mark is Professor of Health Service Management at the University of South Australia and holds a visiting research fellowship at the University of Adelaide.
Mark's practical experience is complemented by degrees in science, economics, commerce, a graduate certificate in higher education and a PhD in psychology. Mark is a member of the Country Health Gift Fund Health Advisory Council Inc (Governing Council), Secretary of SHAPE - Society for Health Administration Programs in Education (Inc.), council member of the Australasian College of Health Service Management (SA), a Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service Management and a state branch committee member of the Health Informatics Society of Australia (soon to be the Australasian Institute of Digital Health). Mark also convenes the Australian health care modelling collaboration known as Cumberland.au.
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POST-Doctoral collaborators
Doctor Alex Sweetman
Flinders University of South Australia
Doctor Alexander Sweetman is an Early Career Research Associate and Research Fellow at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health (Flinders University), and Clinical Sleep Technician at Flinders Medical Centre (SA Health). He has conducted research in insomnia, sleep apnoea, and co-morbid insomnia and sleep apnoea for 15 years, and has cared for several hundred patients during clinical sleep studies. From 2013-18, he led a world-first multi-site randomised controlled trial investigating sequential treatment approaches for 145 patients with co-occurring insomnia and sleep apnoea. He is a member of 6 committees of the Australasian Sleep Association, including Chair of the Behavioural Management of Sleep Disorders committee. Dr Sweetman is leading implementation trials, and developing clinical guidelines, educational materials (GPs, nurses, psychologists), and tailored interventions, to improve the management of insomnia and co-morbid insomnia and sleep apnoea in Australian primary care. He is working with other members of the CRE to implement system-wide changes in primary care to access to behavioural therapies for insomnia.
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Doctor Elizabeth hoon
University of Adelaide
Dr Elizabeth Hoon is a research fellow with the Discipline of General Practice and School of Public Health at the University of Adelaide, and is currently collaborating with AISH in the NHMRC funded CRE; National Centre for Sleep Health Services Research – “Positioning Primary Care at the Centre of Sleep Health Management”. Elizabeth brings her knowledge of contemporary social theories and qualitative research approaches to the multi-disciplinary work of this CRE, and also contributes to the design and delivery of process evaluation activities for interventions associated with this CRE.
Elizabeth has extensive experience with qualitative and mixed methods approaches in health services research, including leading community engagement activities focussed on improving models of care with a focus on primary care. She combines this research focus with a teaching role in the School of Public Health, University of Adelaide where she coordinates the Qualitative Research Methods in Health course for postgraduate students.
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Doctor Oliver frank
University of Adelaide
Dr. Oliver Frank MBBS PhD FRACGP FAIDH is a GP at Oakden Medical Centre at Hillcrest in the inner north eastern suburbs of Adelaide, and a University Senior Research Fellow in the Discipline of General Practice at the University of Adelaide.
Dr. Frank’s interests are in prevention, quality care, clinical informatics and health services. He serves on local, State and national committees in these areas, including the Adelaide GP Council, SA Health’s secure messaging project board, the RACGP Expert Committee Practice Technology and Management and the Clinical and Technical Advisory Committee to the Board of the Australian Digital Health Agency.
With Australians under 60 years making an average of four visits and Australians over 60 years making an average of eight visits to general practice annually, Dr. Frank has a particular interest in maximising the value of these visits through automated opportunistic reminders to patients and to GPs about care that is indicated and due for the patient.
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A/professor Stijn soenen
Bond University, University of Adelaide
Associate Professor Stijn Soenen (Bond University and The University of Adelaide) has expertise on study implementation based on extensive experience leading RCTs. He is involved in the development and implementation of clinical practice guidelines for primary care including the work of the National Centre for Sleep Health Services Research on developing resources on Obstructive Sleep Apnoea and Chronic Insomnia. He relocated to Australia from Europe and completed a PhD (2010) in Biological Health Sciences at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. His research has been supported by >$2M (22 project grants; principal investigator of 12 grants) and he has been the recipient of support from highly competitive Fellowship schemes, including the Kootstra Fellowship, and the Mary Overton Early Career Fellowship and Florey Fellowship from the Royal Adelaide Hospital Research Foundation.
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Participant ADVISORY representatives
Mr Bill Gaussa
Clinical and Advanced Innovation Leader - Philips Health Care
Bill Gaussa is currently the Head of Advanced Innovation at Philips, and acting Venture Leader for the Sleep Ecosystem. As the Head of Advanced Innovation, Bill leads a diverse team of researchers, engineers, and marketers to transform new ideas into new ventures that delight our customers. Immediately prior to that, Bill served in multiple leadership roles within Philips including leading Strategic Marketing, Advance Research, Clinical and Global Product Management.
Bill has experience across multiple industries with positions at McKesson (healthcare automation), Timesys (embedded software development), Inrange Technologies (IT), and Westinghouse (control systems). Throughout his career, Bill has built upon his skills in Product Management, Healthcare Information Technology, Innovation Management, and Engineering to redefine how corporations can innovate in like agile startups.
Bill holds a Masters in Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
Mr Anthony Williams
CEO - CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity
Anthony has extensive experience and a proven track record in clinical research and business development.
As a team leader with international, national and regional roles, Anthony has expertise in research management, financial modelling, corporate governance, intellectual property management and contract development. He is an output focused operator with exceptional project management, communication and negotiation skills.
He has worked in the area of sleep and alertness for over fifteen years and has developed extensive networks and relationships across industry and academia, both in Australia and internationally.
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Emeritus Professor Dorothy Bruck
President - Sleep Health Foundation
Emeritus Professor Bruck is Chair of the Sleep Health Foundation (since 2016) and works as a psychologist specialising in sleep disorders. She has been an academic at Victoria University (Melbourne) for 30 years, including as Head of the School of Psychology, Deputy Dean and Acting Dean. She was one of the founders of the Australian Sleep Association. She has an international research reputation and has particular interests in sleep/wake behaviour, mental health, insomnia, chronic fatigue syndrome, sleep and culture, waking thresholds and human behaviour in emergencies. Professor Bruck is an international expert on waking to alarms and her research has had a high impact internationally. Her work has been regularly featured in the media, including Time Magazine and New Scientist. In 1986 she founded a support group for patients with narcolepsy which still continues today.
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External Advisory Committee
Professor David White
Harvard University
Dr. White graduated from Emory University Medical School and completed training in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary Disease at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He has held a number of positions at various universities over his career and is currently a Professor of Medicine, Part Time, at the Harvard Medical School and is the Chief Scientific Officer for Philips Respironics. Some of his major accomplishments include being President of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Chairing the Task Force to write the research plan addressing sleep and its disorders for the National Institutes of Health, and being the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal SLEEP. He was also on the test writing committees for the American Board of Internal Medicine for both Pulmonary Disease and Sleep Medicine. Finally, his principle research interest has been the pathophysiology of disorders of breathing during sleep about which he has published over 250 original papers
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Professor Terry Young
Health Partnerships, Brunel University, London
Text to come
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Professor Ferran Barbe
Hospital Universitari Arnau de Vilanova
Ferran Barbe received his degree in medicine in 1985 and his PhD in 1999 from the University of Barcelona.
He followed the training programme in Respiratory Medicine at the Hospital de Bellvitge in Barcelona. In 1992 he received the Diplome D’Universite in sleep physiology from the Rene Descartes University in Paris. He spent 14 years as the Director of the sleep unit at the Son Dureta University Hospital in Palma de Mallorca. In 2005 he moved to Lleida as a head of the Respiratory Department at the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital and Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Lleida and Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the School of Medicine of the University of Lleida Barcelona (2006). Until May 2014 he was the Director of Biomedical Research Networking Center Consortium for Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES).
Professor Barbe's work is focused on sleep apnea and cardiovascular diseases. His research is aimed to better understand the pathogenesis of cardiovascular consequences in sleep apnea patients and to evaluate new diagnostic and therapeutic options in such patients. He has published 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals, which received over 12230 citations. His h-index is 54 (Google Scholar).
Professor Dan Buysse
Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science,
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Daniel J. Buysse, MD, is the UPMC Professor of Sleep Medicine, Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science, and Director of the Clinical Research Resources and Facilities Core in the University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He received his medical degree from the University of Michigan and completed his residency and fellowship training at the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on the assessment, pathophysiology, and treatment of insomnia; the interactions between sleep and circadian rhythms; behavioural interventions for sleep; and the impact of sleep on health.
Dr. Buysse has received research funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the National Centre for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS). He has chaired and served on multiple study sections and advisory committees at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Buysse has published over 370 peer-reviewed articles and over 100 book chapters or review articles. He is Past President of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine; recipient of the Nathaniel Kleitman Distinguished Service Award from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the Mary A. Carskadon Outstanding Educator Award from the Sleep Research Society, and a Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine; and is currently a member of the Sleep Research Society Board of Directors.
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Doctor Alan Young
Chair Education Committee, GP Sub-Committee, ASA – Monash University
Text to come
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Professor Peter Eastwood
President Australasian Sleep Association
Inaugural Director of University of Western Australia’s Centre for Sleep Science
Director of the Raine Study
NHMRC Senior Research Fellow at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
Professor at the University of Western Australia
Adjunct Professor at Curtin University
Professor Eastwood has published 180 papers, including original research studies, review articles, book chapters, editorials and letters. His research funding has included a NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship, an R Douglas Wright Fellowship, Senior Research Fellowships, Project Grants and Industry Development Grants. He has supervised many postdoctoral fellows, and PhD, Master’s and Honours students.
His research group investigates the pathophysiology of upper airway dysfunction in individuals with sleep-disordered breathing. His research has led to the development of novel techniques and unique capabilities to image the human upper airway, the application of general anaesthesia to examine upper airway function and the use of nerve stimulation to treat sleep apnoea. More recently his group have been undertaking epidemiological research to better understand the prevalence and risk factors for sleep disorders in young and middle-aged adults.
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External Policy and Practice Committee
Sian Rudge
Head of the Evidence for Action Division at the Sax Institute, Sydney.
Sian is the Head of the Evidence for Action Division at the Sax Institute, Sydney. She has extensive experience in supporting the use of research in decision making, ensuring that the most relevant methods are used.
Sian works closely with government, non-government and health service delivery organisations to scope research requirements; and to deliver on projects to a high standard and within the project’s timeframe and budget. Sian has a background as a clinician and in health policy.
PHD STUDENTS
MARIaM BASHETI
PhD Student
Mariam Basheti completed her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree at the Jordan University of Science and Technology, during which she grew an interest in research. Combining her research interest with training experience in both community pharmacy and clinical hospital rotations she is currently undertaking her PhD at The University of Sydney in the area of sleep health management in primary care and was awarded a scholarship through this Centre of Research Excellence.
NICOLE GRIVELL
PhD Student
Nicole Grivell is an experienced Registered Nurse with significant primary care nursing experience. Nicole has been instrumental in the establishment of several new models of care and clinical programs for best practice chronic disease management within the primary care setting. Her attention has now turned to sleep, and she is exploring the role that primary care nurses can play within sleep health care. This research successfully combines her experience in primary care nursing and new models of care with her interest in sleep health care.
Nicole completed a Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) in 2019 with the support of the NCSHSR, conducting a qualitative study exploring the experiences, education and attitudes of general practice nurses towards sleep health. She is now completing her PhD with the NCSHSR, researching the factors influencing the implementation of nurse-led models of care for sleep health. Nicole is very honoured to have been awarded the inaugural Nick Antic PhD Scholarship and a Flinders University Research Scholarship to support this study and is very grateful to again have the support of the NCSHSR.
Nicole is also currently working as a research assistant within the MoSIP trial and as a Sleep Research Nurse at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health. She is also co-chair of the Primary Care Council for the Australasian Sleep Association.
JENNY HAYCOCK
PhD Student
Jenny is a PhD (Research) Candidate in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University. She joined the CRE team in March 2019 working with Dr Nicole Lovato and Emeritus Professor Leon Lack. Jenny has worked for many years in research and project management roles in health care in New Zealand, working with primary care services, hospital based services and the Ministry of Health. More recently she has worked in project roles in tertiary education in Australia. Jenny has a MA in psychology from the University of Canterbury and also worked as a research assistant with the University of Otago. Her current research is investigating the management of insomnia in primary care, focusing on non-pharmacological treatments. She is interested in both qualitative and quantitative research methods.
KYLIE RUSSO
PhD Student
Kylie is an experienced sleep physiologist, specialising in paediatric sleep medicine. She has worked for over ten years managing a busy tertiary paediatric sleep centre in London, UK before returning to Australia at the start of 2020 to embark on her PhD journey. She is a Registered Polysomnographic Technologist (RPSGT) and was an active member of the British Sleep Society, British Paediatric Sleep Society and the Association for Respiratory Technology and Physiology before returning home.
She maintains her position on the British Thoracic Society group producing a Guideline for Paediatric Sleep Disorders in the UK. Her main research interests and expertise are investigating paediatric sleep related breathing disorders in all populations including children with underlying medical conditions, the utility and efficacy of sleep investigations, the development of sleep guidelines and investigating the role of healthcare professionals in the diagnosis and management of sleep related breathing disorders.
Her current research focus is to understand how paediatric sleep health issues are recognised within primary care in Australia and explore whether a resource for primary care practitioners to support recognition and management of paediatric sleep related breathing disorders can be feasibly implemented and can improve practice.
Andrea Natalie Natsky
PhD Student
Andrea is a PhD candidate majoring in Health Economics of the Faculty of Medicine and Public Health. She studied nursing in her bachelor and worked in a primary care setting for two years in Melbourne. Following her interest in the health sector, Andrea continued her study at the University of Melbourne Master of Public Health programme where she worked on an economic evaluation analysis of Nerve Transfer Surgery in Tetraplegia for the Transport Accident Commission (VIC) project.
Her PhD is aimed at reviewing and evaluating evidence related to intervention and strategies in primary care management in sleep health, particularly for insomnia and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) using health economics approach.