Brian Le has been appointed to the position of Honorary Clinical Professor in both the Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology and the Department of Medicine – Royal Melbourne Hospital at the University of Melbourne.

Professor Le is a palliative care physician and medical oncologist, and is Precinct Director of Palliative Care at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (appointed 2016) and at The Royal Melbourne Hospital (appointed 2008).

Brian's period of leadership of the Precinct Palliative Care Service has been hallmarked by significant service expansion to become a leading service provider in Australia with a national and international reputation for quality and service innovation, and one of the largest training sites for palliative medicine in Australia.

The clinical services have grown substantially to currently an EFT of over 60 specialist physicians, nurses and allied health staff, providing care to over 1,000 new inpatients and over 1,200 outpatients per year, with recent significant government investment to develop, evaluate and facilitate broader statewide translation of novel services to the Victorian population.

This includes establishment of the first outreach rapid palliative care assessment service in 2016, a model which has now been funded and implemented across Victoria, and in 2020, funding to establish and operate the unique inaugural Victorian statewide Palliative Care Advice Service. He also led the opening of the Palliative Care Unit at The Royal Melbourne Hospital in 2009, and the first Inpatient Palliative Care Unit at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in 2020.

Alongside his fulltime clinical and service leadership responsibilities, Brian has established a productive and vibrant research program. He has a career total of over 95 publications, with numerous outputs in the top-ranked journals in this emerging and highly specialised field. He is currently a chief investigator for an NHMRC Clinical Trials Grant and a chief investigator on a current NHMRC MRFF research grant, exploring the early integration of palliative care into advanced cancer care. In total, he is a chief investigator for research funding of $4.2 million ($3.1 million in the last five years) and associate investigator for a further $4 million (career total $8.2 million).

Brian has held numerous committee roles providing advice to government and community organisations. He was appointed by the Minister to the Victorian Clinical Council and held past roles advising the Commonwealth and New South Wales Health. He is co-Chair of the Palliative Care Clinical Studies Collaborative, the largest and highest impact cooperative research group in palliative care worldwide, and previous deputy Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee, Cancer Symptom Trials Group of Cancer Australia. He is a previous Chair of Palliative Care Victoria, the peak body representing all Victorian palliative care services to government and the community.

Brian has throughout his career demonstrated his dedication to professional learning and teaching. He has made significant contributions to curriculum development and creation of teaching resources for three current University of Melbourne programs in palliative care, including the current teaching of palliative medicine in the Melbourne MD, palliative care content development as part of the Master of Cancer Sciences, and content and teaching as part of the Specialist Certificate in Palliative Care since its inception in 2008.

He has held several roles with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians including as Chair of the Training Committee for Palliative Medicine, responsible for the training and certification of all specialists in palliative medicine across Australia and New Zealand.

Click here for a full list of Prof Le's publications.