Dr. Yiallourou is a renowned sleep researcher with expertise spanning, perinatal/infant sleep, cardiovascular health, and dementia. She trained at the Ritchie Centre, Hudson Institute for Medical Research from 2009-2016, where she led an NHMRC project investigating the consequences of low birth weight on sleep and cardiovascular control. From 2017-2021, she was recruited as Group Leader to the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute where she led a program on sleep research, focusing on the role of poor sleep in cardiovascular disease risk among First Nations Australians. Most recently, in 2022, she was appointed as Research Fellow within the Epidemiology of Dementia (Epi-D) team at Monash University, where her research now explores the nexus between adult sleep dysfunction and dementia.

Dr Yiallourou currently holds CIA funding that supports ongoing analyses at the world’s premier studies on cardiovascular health, including the multigenerational Framingham Heart Study. Other international leadership initiatives include co-ordinating one of the largest consortiums on Sleep and Dementia, including 5 U.S cohort studies funded by the NIA. Locally, she is an investigator on the Monash-led Brain and Cognitive Health (BACH) study, a prospective cohort study for dementia prevention.

She has attracted >2.6M in competitive international and national funding including NHMRC funding as CIA (2013-2015) and CIC (2015-2017), and MRFF funding (CIF). In 2018-19, she was awarded the prestigious Gender Equity Award ($300,000) for outstanding female scientist. In 2022, she was awarded a CIA Alzheimer Association (USA) grant to investigate sleep and dementia and the moderating effect of hypertension ($227,000, 2023-2025). Dr. Yiallourou's impact extends globally through numerous publications in esteemed journals (JAMA Neurology, Neurology, Nature Communications, Sleep), with >70 publications including 2 national reports. The quality of her contribution to the sleep field has been acknowledged internationally (total 14 awards); she was awarded 3 international New Investigator awards.