Nicholas Antic, MBBS,
PhD

With his father being a respiratory and sleep physician, Nicholas Antic, MBBS, PhD, became interested in medicine at a very young age. Many years later, Dr. Antic credits his passion for sleep medicine and research to Doug McEvoy, MD.

“I’ve been in the extraordinarily fortunate position of having two great mentors, my father and Doug McEvoy,” Dr. Antic says. “Doug taught me the rigors of research whilst supervising my PhD. He genuinely cares about the progress of his trainees and gets great enjoyment when they succeed.”

Dr. Antic is a professor and the clinical director at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health at the Repatriation General Hospital in Australia. He also is the president of the Australasian Sleep Association and program chair of the ATS Assembly on Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology.

“Nick Antic is an outstanding sleep and respiratory physician dedicated to advancing the professional standards and science of clinical sleep medicine,” Dr. McEvoy says. “He has a razor sharp intellect, prodigious work ethic, and sound judgment. Nick is a natural leader.”

One of Dr. Antic’s current research projects is the sleep apnea vascular endpoints (SAVE) trial that involves 2,717 high vascular risk patients with moderate-severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) from several different countries. The goal is to determine if CPAP reduces the vascular risk of these patients. Dr. Antic and his co-investigators hope to report on the results in 2016.

“In the SAVE study, we have some of the world leaders in sleep actively involved,” Dr. Antic says. “To work alongside them, learn from them, and become friends with them has been a great privilege.”

Danny Eckert, PhD, a colleague of Dr. Antic, notes: “Dr. Antic has made major contributions to our field, including his clinical trial research into the development of new models of care to treat sleep apnea, and through his assiduous leadership roles to advance the field of sleep medicine. Not only is he exceptionally bright, he is one of those rare individuals who manages to excel at multiple tasks with apparent ease. His wit and sense of humor are second to none.”

Dr. Antic says that he hopes to continue to contribute to the growth of sleep medicine which he thinks is an undervalued specialty.

“It is very satisfying to see work published that may have an impact on the way sleep medicine is practiced,” he says.

Life in ATS

• ATS Member Since: 2003
• Primary Assembly: Assembly on Sleep Respiratory & Neurobiology
• 2011-Present SRN Program Committee Member
• 2013-15 SRN Executive Committee Member
• 2013-15 International Conference Committee Member