Associate Professor Leon Lai
Associate Professor Leon Lai – MBBS, FRACS, PhD, MBA
Associate Professor Leon Lai graduated from the University of Melbourne and completed a PhD for his original research in microsurgical techniques for intracranial aneurysm management. He holds an MBA in Health Leadership and is a graduate of the Surgical Leadership Program at Harvard Medical School, reflecting his commitment to bridging clinical excellence with strategic health leadership. Since 2016, he has held an academic appointment in the Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University.
He is Head of Cerebrovascular and Skull Base Surgery at Monash Health, leading a high-volume tertiary unit with a focus on complex cranial microsurgery. To date, he has performed over 1,700 major neurosurgical procedures, including treatment of aneurysms, AVMs, brainstem cavernomas, and skull base tumours. He is widely recognised across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region for his surgical expertise and is regularly invited to speak, chair, and moderate at regional and international neurosurgical meetings.
As Deputy Director of Neurosurgery at Monash Health, he chairs several surgical governance committees and contributes to strategic planning, workforce development, and service delivery. Nationally, he has served on the Surgical Education and Training (SET) Board of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia, influencing postgraduate training policy and standards.
Associate Professor Lai is deeply committed to medical education. He has mentored Honours, Masters, and PhD students through the Department of Surgery and delivers regular teaching within the Monash Clinical School. He is actively involved in structured supervision and skills training for neurosurgical trainees and leads microneurosurgical workshops that support the technical development of residents, registrars, fellows, and consultants across Australasia. In 2021, he was appointed to the Court of Examiners of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, a prestigious peer-nominated role recognising his contribution to postgraduate surgical training.
His research spans cerebrovascular and skull base neurosurgery, with over 90 peer-reviewed publications and contributions to international surgical textbooks. He is senior editor of Neurosurgical Diseases: An Evidence-Based Approach and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience. As Chief Investigator on a $1.3 million NHMRC-funded study applying AI to chronic subdural haematoma, he is advancing clinical decision support through translational research. He participates in multicentre randomised controlled trials and is leading an investigator-initiated RCT at Monash Health, reinforcing his commitment to evidence-based innovation in neurosurgery.