The annual Sleep Medicine and Technology Course will be held from the 24th November to the 29th November, 2008. For application forms and details click here.

Sleep medicine as a discipline has expanded rapidly in recent years although it has a relatively short history. Its origins lie in the mid 1900s with the first recordings of the electroencephalogram (EEG) in sleeping subjects. During the 1950s and 60s, an understanding of the structure of sleep developed and by the early 1970s the medical profession was beginning to describe and recognize the importance of sleep disorders.

Sleep medicine has evolved into something of a subspecialty with relevance in a number of fields including respiratory medicine, cardiology and neurology, with many important wider implications for health sciences and public health. For professionals working in this area, or for graduates wishing to embark on a career in the field, these postgraduate courses in Sleep Medicine within the University of Sydney offer a unique opportunity to gain a deeper insight into this rapidly growing discipline. These courses, leading to Graduate Diplomas and Masters degrees, are the first of their kind in the world and have been developed in response to the growing importance of this field of medicine.

For the past twenty years, short courses, of two weeks duration, educating in adult and paediatric sleep medicine have been run under the auspices of the David Read Laboratory within the University of Sydney with the cooperation of the Sleep Units at the Children’s Hospital Westmead, Sydney Children’s Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital. It is from this experience and the increasing perceived need for more advanced training in this field that the current degree courses have been established.

The chief lecturer for all courses, Professor Colin Sullivan, was the first in Australia to study sleep and its pathology, and was responsible for the invention of nasal CPAP – the current treatment of choice for obstructive sleep apnoea. He is a highly respected member of both the Australian and international scientific communities and is a fellow of the prestigious Australian Academy of Sciences.

The courses in Sleep Medicine introduce a range of studies at postgraduate level in the related disciplines of Adult and Paediatric Sleep Medicine. These courses are offered by the University of Sydney, through the Department of Medicine within the Faculty of Medicine, leading to the award of the following degrees:

• Master of Medicine (Sleep Medicine)
• Master of Science in Medicine (Sleep Medicine)
• Graduate Diploma in Medicine (Sleep Medicine)
• Graduate Diploma of Science in Medicine (Sleep Medicine)

These degrees provide advanced postgraduate training for medical graduates, science graduates and other health care professionals who intend to pursue a career within the general field of Sleep Medicine.

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