Director of Center for Health Sciences and Human Sleep Research Program, Biosciences Division
Fiona Baker, Ph.D. is the Director of the Human Sleep Research Program at SRI International, which she joined in 2005. She focuses on understanding the interplay between sleep physiology and human health across the lifespan. Baker is a world expert on issues of sleep in women. Her areas of research include sleep EEG, sex differences in sleep, sleep in menopause, relationships between sleep and cardiovascular functioning, and interactions between brain development, sleep, and behaviors such as alcohol use, across adolescence.
Baker has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, and is currently PI on two consortium projects about adolescent development: The National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) and the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study (ABCD). She has published extensively on issues of sleep in women in the context of reproductive stages; her research has advanced understanding of insomnia that develops during the menopausal transition, and revealed interactions between the female reproductive system and sleep and circadian regulatory systems.
Baker also holds an appointment as Honorary Professorial Research Fellow in the Brain Function Research Group, School of Physiology, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Baker has published more than 80 scientific papers and has a Ph.D. degree in physiology from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
View Baker’s publications on Research Gate and Google Scholar.
Recent publications
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Bedtime screen use behaviors and sleep outcomes: Findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study
We aim to determine associations between bedtime screen time behaviors and sleep outcomes in a national study of early adolescents.
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Effects of emerging alcohol use on developmental trajectories of functional sleep measures in adolescents
We tracked developmental changes in polysomnographic (PSG) and electroencephalographic (EEG) sleep measures and their relationship with emergent alcohol use in adolescents considering confounding effects (e.g., cannabis use).
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Association of Demographic and Socioeconomic Indicators With the Use of Wearable Devices Among Children
We examined whether demographic and socioeconomic indicators are associated with willingness to join a wearable device study and adherence to wearable data collection in children.
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Good Sleep is a Mood Buffer for Young Women During Menses
We sought to elucidate the interaction between sleep and mood considering menstrual cycle phase in 72 healthy young women with natural, regular menstrual cycles and without menstrual-associated disorders.
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Sexual Orientation Disparities in Early Adolescent Sleep: Findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study
The purpose of this study was to examine associations between sexual minority status (e.g., gay or bisexual) and sleep problems in a demographically diverse, national sample of U.S. early adolescents.
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Morning perception of sleep, stress, and mood, and its relationship with overnight physiological sleep: findings from the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) study
This cross-sectional study investigated objective–subjective sleep discrepancies and the physiological basis for morning perceptions of sleep, mood, and readiness, in adolescents.