Colin Sullivan is an Australian physician, professor, and inventor known for his invention of the nasal

continuous positive airway pressure Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is a form of positive airway pressure (PAP) ventilation in which a constant level of pressure greater than atmospheric pressure is continuously applied to the upper respiratory tract of a person. The a ...

(CPAP) machine for the treatment of

sleep apnea Sleep apnea (sleep apnoea or sleep apnœa in British English) is a sleep-related breathing disorder in which repetitive Apnea, pauses in breathing, periods of shallow breathing, or collapse of the upper airway during sleep results in poor vent ...

. Sullivan began studying sleep apnea in the late 1970s. In 1981 he published a design for the first CPAP machine in

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication. The journal publishes ...

. He helped make CPAP machines and masks by hand in a workshop at the

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (abbreviated RPAH or RPA) is a large teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located on Missenden Road in Camperdown. It is a teaching hospital of the Central Clinical School of the Sydney Medical School at the ...

for the treatment of patients at the world's first sleep apnea clinic at the university. Over 100 patients were being treated there by 1985, and over 1000 patients by 1989. Sullivan’s development of the nasal CPAP was a product of his long-term interest in the upper respiratory airway and its role in

SIDS Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), sometimes known as cot death or crib death, is the sudden unexplained death of a child of less than one year of age. Diagnosis requires that the death remain unexplained even after a thorough autopsy and ...

. Prior to the invention of the nasal CPAP machine

was often treated with radical measures such as

tracheotomy Tracheotomy (, ), or tracheostomy, is a surgical airway management procedure which consists of making an incision on the front of the neck to open a direct airway to the trachea. The resulting stoma (hole) can serve independently as an airway ...

. Sullivan was elected a Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

in 1997. In 2009 Prof. Sullivan was awarded an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

Award for "service to medicine as an innovator in the field of sleep disorders and the development of equipment and treatment practices".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Colin Living people 20th-century Australian inventors Sydney Medical School alumni Officers of the Order of Australia Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Year of birth missing (living people) Australian paediatricians