Euan Wallace
Professor Euan Wallace
Dean of the Sub-Faculty of Clinical and Molecular Medicine
Professor Wallace is returning to Monash University and Monash Health after a decade of senior roles in the Victorian government. Professor Wallace was the Secretary of the Victorian Department of Health from 2020 until 2025. He was responsible for leading the state's health portfolio, overseeing system-wide strategy, funding, performance, and reform. He also played an instrumental part in directing Victoria’s health response to the COVID-19 pandemic and delivered system-wide improvements, including in mental health, women’s health, and planned surgery. Prior to leading the Department of Health, Professor Wallace established Safer Care Victoria, the state’s first agency for clinical quality and safety. He served as Chief Executive from 2017 to 2020.
Before his roles in government, Professor Wallace had worked at the University for 23 years. He first joined the University as Senior Lecturer in 1997, and later became Associate Professor in 2000. In 2006, he was appointed Carl Wood Professor and then Head, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology from 2013 until his departure from Monash in 2020.
During his tenure, he launched the Ritchie Centre in 2010 as a joint venture between Monash University and the Hudson Institute of Medical Research, and served as its Director until 2013. Under his leadership, the Centre established a strong reputation as Australia’s leading perinatal research centre, integrating health research capabilities for women and newborns.
Professor Wallace’s association with Monash Health began in 1997 as a consultant obstetrician in maternal-fetal medicine. In 2006 he was appointed Director, Women’s and Newborn Services, a position he held until 2016. In this capacity, he successfully created Victoria’s largest maternity and gynaecology service by integrating services for women and newborns across three hospitals under a single governance structure.
Professor Wallace has cultivated a distinguished reputation as a leading academic authority in fetal development, maternal health, stem cell biology and patient safety. He has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications, including high-impact papers in obstetrics, maternal-fetal medicine, and health system reform. With more than 22,000 citations and an h-index of 78, he held continuous NHMRC funding for more than 20 years.
Professor Wallace has served on many leading boards and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (2015). He holds his medical and higher research degree qualifications from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. In 2013 Professor Wallace was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of his significant services to medicine in women’s health and education, and received a Distinguished Service Medal by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 2018. He was conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by Monash University in 2023 for his contributions to women’s health and Victoria’s healthcare system.