Professor Danny Eckert

Director, FHMRI Sleep Health

Matthew Flinders Professor, College of Medicine and Public Health

Professor Eckert is a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Leadership Fellow and a Mathew Flinders Professor at Flinders University. He serves as Director of FHMRI Sleep Health and was the inaugural Deputy Director and Clinical Translation Theme Lead at Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI). 

Professor Eckert leads a comprehensive basic sciences and translational research program that focuses on identification of the causes of sleep apnea, optimisation of existing therapies, and development of new tailored therapies. He is most well-known for his pioneering respiratory phenotyping work which has led to a new precision medicine therapeutic framework to understand and treat OSA and for his research on the role of arousal mechanisms on sleep apnea pathogenesis and novel pharmacotherapy. He has published more than 170 articles in the leading sleep and respiratory medicine and other cross-disciplinary and general medical journals. 

His previous appointments include Professor of Medicine at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Principal Research Scientist at Neuroscience Research Australia where he maintains affiliate appointments, and Assistant Professor within the Division of Sleep Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Professor Robert Adams

MBBS, FRACP, FRCP, FAASM, MD

Medical Director, FHMRI Sleep Health

Professor Robert Adams is respiratory and sleep physician based at Flinders Medical Centre and is Medical Director of the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health (AISH) at Flinders University. His multidisciplinary, translational research examines the impact of chronic conditions, particularly sleep apnea and insomnia, on health and effects of health services interventions. A current focus is examining the impact of novel technology for diagnosis and monitoring of sleep disorders such as sleep apnea and insomnia and understanding how this can help with better matching the right treatment to the right patients. With colleagues at AISH he is examining the effects of shiftwork on health and the effect of sleep and circadian disruption on health and daytime functioning. Other work examines how simple dietary changes can improve sleep.

He leads the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence National Centre for Sleep Health Services Research, which is conducting trials of new models of care for OSA and insomnia in primary care to enhance the ability of primary care to manage sleep health. He has authored over 330 peer-reviewed publications in the leading sleep, respiratory and general medical journals. He is the Deputy Chair of the Sleep Health Foundation (SHF) the leading advocacy group for sleep health in Australia. He Chairs the Healthy Sleep in Hospital Working Group, aimed at providing the most conducive environment for sleeping in hospitals.