Ondřej Ludka Appointed Professor

Appointment letters to new professors were awarded by the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Robert Plaga last week. The appointees received the highest academic degree in the Karolinum Large Assembly Hall, Prague. One of them was Ondřej Ludka, the Head of our Sleep Medicine research team, in the field of internal medicine.

Prof. Ludka’s research focuses on the importance of risk factors, such as breathing disorders during sleep or its disruption – the so-called sleep apnea, and their association with obesity and other cardiovascular diseases including myocardial infarction. He is the leader of our Cardiovascular Sleep Center – one of the few institutions specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders in the EU in patients with cardiovascular disease. Prof. Ludka represents the Czech Republic in European sleep associations and participates in their activities. For example, since 2017, our center has been part of the European Sleep Apnea Database (ESADA). We have provided data on more than 700 patients and are now among two institutions with the highest number of patients included in the project each year. Thanks to Prof. Ludka’s effort, we are going to host the ESADA European Sleep Research Society project meeting in January 2020. Therefore, for a few days, Brno will host experts from different parts of Europe whose research contributes to healthier sleep, which in turn decreases the risk of further health complications.