As part of the work with industry and other partners from the CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity (Alertness CRC), South Australian sleep experts at Flinders University are stepping up their research commitment on efforts to help improve the lives of the millions of people worldwide suffering from common sleep disorders.
A project led by the Alertness CRC has seen the formation of a collaborative team at Flinders University to tackle specific sleep issues.
The team includes experts from the revamped Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health (AISH) in Flinders' College of Medicine and Public Health and researchers from the Medical Device Research Institute (MDRI) in Flinders' College of Science and Engineering, together with sleep physicians, specialists and other experts – including Chief Scientific Officer at Philips, Dr David White.
"At Philips, we see an opportunity to leverage advanced technology, coupled with scientific and consumer insights, to deliver solutions that improve people's health and drive differentiated outcomes across the health continuum," said Dr White. "In this research partnership with the Alertness CRC, we have a mutual interest in helping consumers all over the world to improve their sleep."
Flinders University Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Robert Saint says "We're delighted to continue to work toward research supporting and enabling better health and wellbeing in a number of ways on the world stage.
"Flinders University's medical and health research is making inroads in a wide range of areas, from cardiovascular and cancer treatments to neuroscience and sleep disorders."
By combining clinical, physiology, psychology and engineering expertise, the AISH and MDRI teams are ideally placed to design and translate novel and practical diagnostic and treatment approaches to address the major burden of sleep problems in the community.
AISH director Professor Danny Eckert says the translation of important developments in sleep diagnosis, management and treatment will be supported by the Alertness CRC and NHMRC-funded National Centre for Sleep Health Services.
"We are striving to develop better models of care, and to see GPs, nurses and other health professionals skilled in recognising and dealing with sleep disorders in a constructive way," Professor Eckert says.
"We look forward to continuing to work with partners like Philips and the Alertness CRC to help improve the lives of millions of people," he says.
