Richard Horner (He/Him)

Richard Horner is Full Professor in the Department of Physiology & Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is author of over 140 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, and chapters in textbooks such as Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine, and Murray & Nadel’s Textbook of Respiratory Medicine. His research has been continually supported by CIHR since 1998. For his body of work in sleep and breathing, Dr. Horner was elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (FCAHS) in 2017. In 2023 he was awarded the Distinguished Lecturer Award in Sleep Sciences by the CIHR-Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health and Canadian Sleep Society. Dr. Horner also leads and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on sleep science in the Faculty of Medicine spanning basic physiology to clinical problems. Dr. Horner has won awards for his research and teaching, including from the Faculty of Medicine for ‘Sustained Excellence and Innovation in Life Sciences Education’ (2025), ‘Sustained Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentorship’ (2015), and ‘Excellence in Linking Undergraduate Teaching to Research’ (2013). Dr. Horner engages with the media via radio, television, and print to discuss sleep science and health. He also collaborated on a short play – Somniloquy, with the UK playwright Craig Baxter – that dramatized the workings of the brain in sleep. He is the author of a book for the general public - The Universal Pastime: Sleep and Rest Explained.

Department of Physiology
Department of Medicine
Institute of Medical Science