Murray W. Johns

Biography

He Founded the Epworth Sleep Centre in 1988 where he continues as a researcher, but he has now retired from clinical practice. Since 2002 he has also been the Founding Director and Chief Scientist of Optalert Holdings Pty Ltd., a company which he set up to develop new technology for monitoring the levels of alertness/drowsiness in active people such as drivers. He has been an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne University of Technology, School of Life and Social Sciences, since 1998. Dr. Johns received a BSc degree from Melbourne University in 1958, and later his medical degree (MB, BS, 1966) and a PhD in sleep medicine (1973) from Monash University. In 1990 Dr. Johns developed the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). This has become a world standard for measuring daytime sleepiness, in the sense of a person’s average sleep propensity in daily life. The ESS was developed originally for use among adults of all ages. However, in 2015, Dr. Johns developed a modified version specifically for use among children and adolescents, the ESS-CHAD. Dr. Johns has two personal websites www.mwjohns.com and www.epworthsleepinessscale.com. The former website has details of his CV, including his previous appointments and publications, mainly on sleep medicine but also on other topics on which he has published. The latter website has details of the ESS, its conceptual basis, how it was developed and validated, and how it and the ESS-CHAD can be used by researchers and clinicians in many languages around the world. His current research relates mainly to the nature, measurement, causes and consequences of drowsiness/sleepiness in daily life. Dr. Johns was a founding member of the Australasian Sleep Association, of which he is now an emeritus life-member.

Research Interest

sleep medicine