Camilla Hoyos

Background

About Camilla Hoyos

Dr Camilla Hoyos is a NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Fellow in the School of Psychology, Charles Perkins Centre and Brain and Mind Centre at the University of Sydney. She is also an affiliate researcher in the Centre for Sleep and Chronobiology at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. Dr Hoyos is passionate about generating new knowledge on how sleep disorders, insufficient sleep and poorly timed sleep impact on health. Her work is determining whether reversing sleep problems with various therapies leads to reduced risk and impact of diabetes, heart disease and dementia. Dr Hoyos has worked in clinical research for nearly 15 years beginning as a clinical trial co-ordinator, and later clinical trial manger, at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, from 2002-2009. She then completed her PhD in 2012 at the University of Sydney and the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research focusing on understanding whether treating sleep apnea reduced body fat and insulin resistance, both important risk factors for the development of diabetes. Her work won her the New Investigator Award at the international SLEEP conference in 2013. Her current research focusses on further understanding the role disturbed sleep and metabolic dysfunction in cognitive decline, which can include loss of memory and difficulty performing everyday tasks. In order to slow cognitive decline and potentially prevent the onset of dementia, her research is investigating new interventions which target disturbed sleep before cognitive decline begins. Furthermore in 2017 Dr Hoyos was awarded a Diabetes Australia Research Grant to investigate the underlying links between diabetes and dementia in older adults who are ‘at risk’ for dementia with the aim to develop future early interventions to slow cognitive decline.