Dr Prerna Varma is a Research Fellow and an NHMRC Cogsleep Research Fellow in the Sleep and Circadian Medicine at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University. Her current research focuses on two primary themes:
i) design, development, and delivery of personalised digital interventions to address sleep, fatigue, and circadian disruption in shift workers; and
ii) examining sleep and mental health from a public health perspective.

An early career researcher, Dr Varma is deeply interested in involving communities into the design and implementation of their care. She has worked with healthcare and defence sectors, and communities living with dementia to identify optimal areas of support. Her work has received funding from the Medical Research Futures Fund, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NHMRC funded Cogsleep Program, Defence, Science and Technology group, Dementia Australia and Monash University’s Sleep and Circadian Medicine internal grants.

Dr Varma completed her PhD in psychology from the RMIT University. Her thesis focused on examining family dynamics in sleep. A family intervention designed during her PhD is now being translated to support families living with dementia. Prerna has a background in digital marketing industry and supporting development of smartphone applications, which she brings into her research roles.