ISRTP Mentor and Site Overview

The International Sleep Research Training Program (ISRTP) is built upon a network of 14 mentor sites located at some of the world’s most prestigious and productive research institutions. Each site has at least one mentor, a recognized leader in sleep research.

Led by their primary mentor, each mentor site applies to participate in ISRTP, hoping to attract high-potential young researchers in the field. Once accepted as part of ISRTP, the mentor and mentor site become open to prospective applicants who wish to work in areas relevant to the mentor site’s strengths and opportunities in sleep and circadian research.

Learn more about each of our mentor sites below.

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh

Website

Site Representative (Primary)
Ravi Gupta, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Division of Sleep Medicine

Site Representatives (Secondary)
Dr. Lokesh Kumar Saini
Associate Professor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine

Dr. Prateek Kumar Panda
Co-chair, Pediatric Neurology Division
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Dr. Indar Kumar Sharawat
Chief, Pediatric Neurology Division
Convenor, DM Pediatric Neurology Program
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Site Primary Research Interests
Mentors at the site can support the research interest of the mentee in following areas:

  1. Prevalence studies of sleep disorders in clinical and epidemiological settings
  2. Development and validation of questionnaires related to various aspects of Sleep Medicine
  3. Diagnostic accuracy studies and comparison of various methods of diagnosis
  4. Comparison of treatment modalities through randomized controlled trials
  5. Research as pertains to technological aspects of Sleep Medicine (signals captured during polysomnography)

Charité University Hospital Berlin – Sleep Medicine Center

Website

Site Representative (Primary)
Thomas Penzel, PhD (Germany)

Mentor Position/Title
Scientific Chair of Sleep Center

Site Representative (Secondary)
Ingo Fietze, MD (Germany)

Mentor Position/Title
Medical Director of Sleep Medicine Center

Site Primary Research Interests
New medical/non-medical treatment of sleep disorders; new methods of statistical physics and processing of bio-signals for detection & analysis of sleep disorders and cardiovascular risk parameter; sleep-wake behavior; influence of environmental conditions; telemedicine.


Flinders University – Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health

Website

Site Representative
Danny Eckert, PhD (Australia)

Mentor Position/Title
Director of Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health

Site Primary Research Interests
Impact of environmental noise on sleep and physiology; sleep deprivation and circadian experimentation; basic sciences and translational sleep research; identification of the causes of sleep apnea and insomnia.


Harvard University – Division of Sleep Medicine

Website

Site Representative
Susan Redline, MD, MPH (United States)

Mentor Position/Title
Peter C. Farrell Professor of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Site Primary Research Interests
Sleep medicine epidemiology; genetic epidemiology; cohort studies; clinical trials; data science.

digital therapeutics in sleep medicine; regulation of circadian rhythms by light; sleep and society.


King’s College London – Sleep Disorders Centre at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

Website

Site Representative (Primary)
Joerg Steier, FRCP, PhD (United Kingdom)

Mentor Position/Title
Professor of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine

Site Representative (Secondary)
Guy Leschziner, PhD (United Kingdom)

Mentor Position/Title
Professor of Neurology and Sleep

Site Primary Research Interests
Research is focused on novel diagnostics/therapeutics, respiratory physiology and (non-)CPAP therapy. Work to achieve clinical and academic alignment of respiratory medicine, neurology and psychiatry with innovative technology and advanced physiological monitoring. Fully accredited (BSS) for the diagnosis/therapy of any sleep disorder with well-established professional links in national and international networks.


Medical University of Innsbruck – Department of Neurology & Neurosurgery

Site Representative
Birgit Högl, MD

Mentor Position/Title
Professor of Neurology and Sleep Medicine, Director of the Sleep Disorders Unit

Site Primary Research Interests
REM sleep behavior disorder and prodromal RBD, methodological issues, PSG as biomarker of neurodegeneration, narcolepsy; machine-based learning and AI and developing new diagnostic methods for RBD; research focus on RLS and other motor disorders of sleep, ranging from clinical to methodological papers.


Monash University – Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health

Website

Site Representative (Primary)
Prof. Sean Drummond

Mentor Position/Title
Director of the Sleep and Circadian Rhythm Research Program

Site Description & Primary Research Interests
Impact of sleep and circadian rhythms on cognition and mental health throughout the lifespan; Focus on novel ways to treat sleep problems such as insomnia, and sleep apnea as well as their impact on mental health. Expertise in treating sleep problems in perinatal women, cancer patients and understanding how sleep can help slow cognitive decline in the elderly. Lab, field, and clinic based studies. Other mentors at Monash University include Dr. Andrew Phillips, Prof. Clare Anderson, Dr. Bei Bei, Prof. Brad Edwards, Prof. Shantha Rajaratnam, and Dr. Melinda Jackson.


National Institute of Medicine and Health – NeuroDiderot, Université Paris Cité

INSERM Website
NeuroDiderot Website
Academic Hospital Robert-Debré Website

Site Representative (Primary)
Karen Spruyt, Christophe Delclaux

Site Representative (Secondary)
Plamen Bokov

Site Description
National Institute of Medicine and Health (INSERM), founded in 1964, is a public scientific and technological institute which operates under the joint authority of the French Ministries of Health and Research. The institute is dedicated to biomedical research and human health, and is involved in the entire range of activities from the laboratory to the patient’s bedside. It also partners with the most prestigious research institutions in the world that are committed to scientific challenges and progress in these fields. NeuroDiderot, this Neuroscience laboratory of INSERM works on understanding the mechanisms that alter the functioning of the developing brain from the fetus to the adolescent , whether the origins of the dysfunctions are genetic or acquired (as a result of an infection or to physical trauma, for example) and whether the diseases are frequent or only affect a small number of patients ( rare diseases ).

Our Pediatric Center for Sleep Pathologies is situated in the Academic Hospital Robert-Debré, which is the second largest children’s hospital in Europe. It is the mother-child university hospital in the north-east of Paris (70,000 outpatients/day of hospitalization per year). We take care of children from 0 to 18 years old suffering from acute or chronic, medical or surgical pathologies. To treat these diseases, high-tech care is provided by combining a global approach to the patient and his family. This hospital also hosts the ERN-ITHACA, a patient-centered European network that meets the needs for highly specialized, multidisciplinary healthcare for patients with rare (multiple) malformation syndromes and rare intellectual and other neurodevelopmental disorders of genetic, genomic/chromosomal or environmental origin, both diagnosed and undiagnosed.

Université Paris Cité covers a wide range of disciplines, with one of the most comprehensive and ambitious educational offerings available in the world. Located on some twenty campuses and research sites, our University has an exceptional heritage within Paris and its inner suburbs. Between history, prestige and modernity, we warmly welcome mentees to advance together the field of pediatric sleep research.


Peking University People’s Hospital – Sleep Center

Website

Site Representative
Fang Han, MD (China)

Mentor Position/Title
Director of the Sleep Center

Site Primary Research Interests
Narcolepsy; sleep apnea phenotype; Sleep Center Management; machine learning.


Stanford University – Division of Sleep Medicine

Website

Site Representative
Clete A. Kushida, MD, PhD (United States)

Mentor Position/Title
Division Chief and Medical Director, Stanford University, Division of Sleep Medicine

Site Primary Research Interests
Clinical trials on new diagnostic and treatment tools for sleep disorders; phenotyping/genotyping of sleep disorders; prediction of adherence to treatment; artificial intelligence algorithms for polysomnography.


St. John’s Medical College Hospital

Website

Site Representative (Primary)
Uma Devaraj, DNB- Medicine, DNB- Respiratory Medicine, MBBS, Sleep Disorder Specialist Certified by WSS (India)

Mentor Position/Title
Professor, Dept of Pulmonary Medicine

Site Representative (Secondary)
Uma Maheswari Krishnaswamy, Fellowship in Sleep disorders (Royal College of Physicians-UK), MD-Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, MD-Internal Medicine, MBBS (India)

Mentor Position/Title
Professor and HOD, Dept of Pulmonary Medicine

Site Primary Research Interests
Sleep hygiene habits and circadian typology, shift work related sleep problems, OSA epidemiology, clinical profile, tools for evaluation of sleepiness, biomarkers, comorbidities, data mining, effects of CPAP therapy, restless legs syndrome-data mining, prevalence and profile among diverse clinical populations.


University Medical Center Freiburg – Centre for Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine

Website

Site Representative (Primary)
Dieter Riemann, PhD (Germany)

Mentor Position/Title
Prof. Dr., Department Head

Site Primary Research Interests
The relationships between sleep, insomnia and mental disorders, especially depression; the links and mechanisms between disordered sleep and altered emotionality; experimentally study sleep with a broad armamentarium of methods using psychology, medicine, psychiatry and physics; pathophysiology/ etiology of disturbed sleep in insomnia/mental disorders; therapeutic avenues and the burden of mental illness.


University of Oxford – Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute

Website

Site Representative
Simon Kyle, MA, PhD (United Kingdom)

Mentor Position/Title
Associate Professor, University of Oxford, Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute

Site Primary Research Interests
Neural mechanisms that regulate sleep and circadian rhythms; experimental and clinical sleep medicine (with a particular focus on insomnia disorder); sleep and psychiatric disorder; wearable devices and digital therapeutics in sleep medicine; regulation of circadian rhythms by light; sleep and society.


University of Pennsylvania – Center for Sleep & Circadian Neurobiology

Website

Site Representative
Allan I. Pack, MBChB, PhD (United States)

Mentor Position/Title
Director, Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology, University of Pennsylvania

Site Primary Research Interests
Dr. Pack and the other faculty in the Center (Mathias Basner, David Dinges, Philip Gehrman, Namni Goel, Matthew Kayser, Samuel Kuna, Michael Perlis, David Raizen, Amita Sehgal and Ignacio Tapia) are ISRTP mentors. The research group at the University of Pennsylvania has developed both national and international consortia to facilitate their research. Thus, there are considerable data available for trainees coming to Penn to conduct secondary data analyses that allow trainees at this site to obtain high-quality publications. The research group also specializes in a functional genomics approach to study of sleep and sleep disorders, with a particular focus on obstructive sleep apnea and developing a personalized approach to this common disorder, and studies in Drosophila and mice to elucidate the role of specific genes.


University of Sydney – Woolcock Institute of Medical Research

Website

Site Representative
Brendon Yee, MBChB, PhD (Australia)

Mentor Position/Title
Clinical Associate Professor Medicine, Central Clinical School, Woolcock, Institute of Medical Research

Site Primary Research Interests
The cardiovascular and metabolic consequences of sleep apnea, respiratory failure including obesity hypoventilation syndrome, cognitive performance and sleep loss, the relationship between shift work and productivity, and health and sleep effects of windfarms.


University of Tsukuba – International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine

Website

Site Representative
Masashi Yanagisawa, MD, PhD (Japan)

Mentor Position/Title
Director, Professor, International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine (IIIS), University of Tsukuba

Site Primary Research Interests
IIIS is the world’s premier institute for sleep medicine, aiming to elucidate the fundamental principles of sleep/wake biology. Our missions are to develop new strategy of diagnosing, preventing and treating sleep disorders for contributing to promote human health through research activities. IIIS is located in Tsukuba Science City, within the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, and offer an excellent environment for research with globally recognized scientists.


Become a Mentor

Are you interested in participating as a mentor in ISRTP? Contact [email protected] for more information about the application process.