Mathias Basner, MD, PhD, MSc is Associate Professor of Sleep and Chronobiology in Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Basner received his degree in Medicine and his Ph.D. in Research from the University of Bochum, Germany, and his Master of Science in Epidemiology degree from the University of Bielefeld, Germany. Dr. Basner trained at the Institute for Applied Physiology at the University of Bochum and worked as a Research Associate at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Aerospace Medicine from 1999 until 2009, where he headed the Flight Physiology Division in 2008 and 2009. In January 2010, Dr. Basner was recruited to the University of Pennsylvania to assume the position of Assistant Professor of Sleep and Chronobiology in Psychiatry. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015.
Dr. Basner's primary research interests concern the effects of traffic noise on sleep and health, the effects of sleep loss on neurobehavioral functions, population studies on sleep time and waking activities, and the effects of long-duration space missions on astronaut behavioral health. Dr. Basner conducted several large scale laboratory and field studies on the effects of traffic noise on sleep since 1999. For this research, Dr. Basner was awarded the Science Award of the German Aerospace Center in 2007 and the Science Award of the German Academy for Aviation and Travel Medicine in 2010.
Dr. Basner is currently President of the International Commission of Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN). He is advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) concerning traffic noise effects on sleep, and member of the Impacts and Science Group (ISG) of the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Dr. Basner is a member of the Sleep Research Society (SRS), the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA), and corresponding member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). He is editorial board member of the journals Noise & Health, Frontiers in Physiology, and Sleep Health, and he has reviewed articles for >80 scientific journals.