Claire Ellender

Associate Professor Claire Ellender is a Respiratory and Sleep specialist at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane and holds a conjoint academic appointment within the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Queensland. She leads the PA-Southside Clinical Unit and the Learning Community (South). Her research focuses on health literacy in sleep education, complex sleep disorder management, and improving adherence to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy. She has led randomized controlled trials like the AHEAD trial and contributed to clinical guidelines such as the Australasian Sleep Association 2024 Guidelines for sleep studies in adults.

Her educational background includes a BSc from The University of Queensland, MBBS, FRACP, and a PhD in improving CPAP adherence for vulnerable populations. She actively supervises research projects including predictors of hypoventilation in sleep studies and bronchoscopic approaches to airway bleeding.

Key achievements include over 30 peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations on sleep medicine education gaps, and collaborative work on respiratory failure risk factors. She emphasizes translating research into clinical practice to enhance care for vulnerable patient groups.