Dr. Marta Novak, MD, PhD

Principal Investigator

Dr. Novák is an internationally recognized psychiatrist, somnologist. She has published more than 50 papers, 24 book chapters and edited the most comprehensive handbook on sleep medicine in Hungary. She has active collaborations both in Europe and in North America. Her cumulative impact factor is 150,823, with 559 independent citations.
With appointments both at the Semmelweis University Budapest and the University of Toronto her research interest focuses on psychonephrology, sleep disorders in the medically ill and diagnosis and management of mood disorders in the medically ill.
She is the head of the Sleep Medicine Working Group at the Institute of Behavioral Sciences and also of the Sleep Laboratory at the 1st Department of Internal Medicine, Semmelweis University Budapest. She has established a Psychonephrology Unit within the Department of Psychiatry, University Health Network, University of Toronto.
She is a member of a number of professional organizations: Hungarian Psychiatric Association, Canadian Sleep Society, International Society of Behavioural Medicine, European Sleep Society, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, International Interpersonal Psychotherapy Association, Canadian Psychiatric Association, European Association of Consultation-Liason Psychiatry and Psychosomatics, Ontario Medical Association, Canadian Medical Association, Canadian Psychiatric Association.
She is an elected member of the Board of the European Association of Consultation-Liason Psychiatry and Psychosomatics, member of the Research Development Committee, Department of Psychiatry, University Health Network and member of the Editorial Board, Journal of Psychosomatic Research.

Research Interests

Dr. Novak’s research interests relate to diverse aspects of physical and psychosocial health and well-being among individuals with patients living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and kidney transplant (KT). Her research involving this population encompasses:

• identifying and addressing psychosocial and ethnocultural barriers that prevent patients from accessing KT and living donor KT
• mood disorders (especially depression) and their impact on clinical outcomes and healthcare utilization
• patient-reported health outcomes
• sleep disorders common among these patients, such as restless legs syndrome, sleep apnea and insomnia
• associations between diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and CKD biomedical markers and elevated mortality rates
• measuring the impact on quality of life of comorbid diseases and disorders that are common among patients with CKD or KT

Dr. Novak has comprehensive counselling and group facilitation experience. With input from patients from various cultural communities, she is working on several projects to develop culturally appropriate education resources to enhance transplant-related knowledge and readiness, to reduce disparities and to enhance access to KT and to living donor KT. See her complete list of works.

Research keywords

access to care; cardiovascular disease; depression; diabetes; ethnocultural disparities; kidney transplantation; living donor kidney transplantation; psychosocial and behavioral medicine; outcomes research; patient reported outcomes; quality of life; ratings scales; sleep disorders; whole person care