Dr Michelle Olaithe, from the UWA School of Psychological Science, is a practising psychologist who is clinical director for almost 200 psychologists and 20 psychiatrists at Health Bright while still actively researching sleep disorders, mood problems and brain dysfunction.

She recently worked on developing the first tool to measure exposure to long term Obstructive Sleep Apnoea which, it’s hoped, will help assess the risk of related diseases and improve early detection and intervention for them.

In her interview, released today on PodBean, Michelle discusses her collaboration with the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort, the group managing the world’s oldest ongoing sleep database, which helped her develop the ground-breaking study.

She also talks to Research on the Record about how she initially “did not want to do research at all”, reveals what changed her mind – and explains how her academic career has come to compliment her clinical work (and vice versa).

Michelle also recalls her own largely positive experience of progressing through academia, the importance of cultivating good mentors, and where her research is taking her next.