Last week saw clinicians and researchers gather virtually from Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific  for Sleep Week,  including Flinders University’s Associate Professor Sutapa Mukherjee, who also commenced her new role as President of the Australasian Sleep Association.

What is your role at Flinders and what does your current research focus on?

I am a respiratory and sleep physician and medical researcher. Clinically, I work at Flinders Medical Centre as well as having my own private practice. I am passionate about sleep research and am an Associate Professor in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at Flinders University, and the Lead in Clinical Research for the Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at Flinders Medical Centre.

My current research focuses on the evaluation of novel therapies for sleep apnoea as well as my ongoing interest in the clinical and genetic epidemiology of sleep apnoea.

Can you briefly describe the work journey that took you to this point in your career?

My path has been nonlinear and spread over multiple disciplines and continents. I could never have predicted at the beginning of the journey where I have ended up! But I am very grateful for ending up right here, right now.

I thrive on new experiences and challenges, and have had to reinvent myself professionally several times. I have had the opportunity to grow as a clinician and medical researcher in three countries and three different systems – Australia, Canada, and the US – working as a clinician researcher at eminent institutions such as the University of Toronto, Harvard University, the University of Western Australia, and now at Flinders University.

I underwent my medical and advanced training at the University of Adelaide and then left in 1996 to undertake a PhD in Perth. In 1999 I moved to Boston for postdoctoral training, returning to Perth in 2003. After a further eight years in Perth, I moved to Toronto to take a position at Women’s College Hospital and the University of Toronto. In 2014 I moved from Toronto back to my hometown, Adelaide.

I have always had a strong commitment to research and have worked across a number of different areas. My PhD involved running the first Australian human gene therapy trial for malignant mesothelioma. At the Harvard School of Public Health, I worked in occupational health epidemiology and led field work studying oxidative injury biomarkers in boilermakers and diesel bus mechanics. In Perth, I worked on the clinical and genetic epidemiology of sleep and respiratory disorders, and led the creation of the Western Australian Sleep Health Study – which remains the largest case cohort of intensively characterised sleep apnoea cases in the world (n=5,000).

I was involved in developing and operationalising the Ontario Health Study in Toronto as the clinical lead; we were able to recruit over 300,000 adults from the general population via an innovative online platform.

Since returning to Adelaide in 2014 I have been offered exciting new research opportunities including being the primary investigator on a Phase 1 Clinical trial for a new medication to treat sleep apnoea, and being appointed Lead in Clinical Research in the department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at SALHN, with responsibility to facilitate and drive research productivity for the department.

I have been a board member of the Australasian Sleep Association (ASA) as Clinical Chair since 2018 and am currently President – a great privilege and responsibility. I am really excited for the next few years and believe the best is yet to come for respiratory and sleep research at Flinders University.

Can you describe a challenge in your life and how you dealt with it?

There have been many challenges over the years, some arising just from moving between different research areas (and countries). But I will focus on a recent example – COVID-19 – which for many of us was, and is, a huge challenge.

As Clinical Chair of the ASA I was responsible for the consensus statements for members, and chairing webinars about how to deal with the pandemic. At a local level, I was also involved in planning for the presumed influx of cases and had to convert my private practice to telehealth overnight. I worked long hours and kept close contact with my Canadian and US colleagues who were able to share their expertise and protocols and consulted widely across Australia and New Zealand clinicians. We were able to work together quickly to pull together protocols for how to proceed.

This spirit of collegiality has continued in the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce – which provides evidence-based guidelines for Australian clinicians and Government.

What is something you are most proud of?

There have been many highlights. These include a seminal New England Journal of Medicine paper recognising my role as the primary investigator of the highest recruiting centre in Australia for the Sleep Apnea cardioVascular Endpoints (SAVE) study. Travelling from Toronto to Washington DC to discuss the Ontario Health study with every Director of each Institute of the National Institutes of Health was definitely a high point. The current design of the National Precision Medicine Cohort in the US is based in part upon our work in the Ontario Health Study.

Mentoring students and advanced trainees in their clinical and research studies has also been a great pleasure.

However, I think the most impactful thing I have ever done is through my role in as Co-Chair of the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce Guideline Leadership Group. Each week we convene to deliberate the latest evidence and to produce living guidelines for COVID-19 diagnosis and management. More than 4,300 pre-prints and published articles have been screened thus far with 103 recommendations published. Our website has had over 145,000 users, with 40% coming from overseas. It has been enormously satisfying to be involved in this national effort together with 239 other senior Australian clinicians contributing on a voluntary basis. It has also been a personal challenge to lead a group of 35 clinicians with differing disciplinary backgrounds and views in the context of obtaining 100% consensus on all recommendations.

What does a normal day look like for you?

It depends what day it is and where I am. I could be treating unwell patients at FMC; teaching medical students or supervising research projects of PhD students or registrars; recruiting and leading clinical trials in sleep apnoea at Flinders University; or talking to Federal Department of Health officials about the impact of COVID-19 on sleep medicine. It is always busy, often exciting, and I love both the variety and being around the future generation of researchers and clinicians who are so enthusiastic and bring a fresh perspective to life.

How do you like to relax or spend your spare time?

I love walking my two chocolate Labradors, Toby and Josh, and hanging out with my family.

I enjoy reading and board games, and have reacquainted myself with jigsaw puzzles this year.

I enjoy socialising with my friends, many of whom have known me from high school or medical school – it is a joy to be with them after so many years away.

I am also passionate about animal conservation, and especially wombats. I volunteer my time to the Wombat Awareness Organisation. Hairy nosed wombats have been around for millions of years but are now endangered. They are very intelligent and social creatures; there is much we can learn from them.