Professor Wendy Brown MBBS(hons) PhD FRACS FACS

Head, Monash University Department of Surgery

Co-Deputy Head, Monash University, School of Translational Medicine

Clinical Director, Australia & NewZealand Bariatric Surgery Registry

Clinical Lead, Victorian Upper GI Cancer Registry

Professor Wendy Brown was the first woman to be appointed Chair of the Monash University Department of Surgery in 2015 and in 2018 she was appointed Director of the Oesophago-Gastric-Bariatric Unit at The Alfred. In 2020, Professor Brown was appointed Program Director of Surgical Services at Alfred Health.  In addition to these roles, Professor Brown is also the Clinical Director of the Australia and New Zealand Bariatric Surgery Registry and Clinical Lead of the Victorian Upper GI Cancer Registry. 

Professor Brown’s areas of clinical expertise include bariatric and upper gastrointestinal surgery, including cancer and reflux disease.  Her research aims to support her clinical work and addresses the processes underlying weight loss, the benefits of weight loss and improving patient outcomes from Upper GI and Bariatric Surgery.  She has published her work in leading medical specialty and surgical specialty journals and regularly presents at national and international conferences.

Professor Brown led the development of the Bi-national Bariatric Surgery Registry obtaining funding for the pilot and roll out.  The aim of the Registry is to capture all bariatric procedures across Australia and New Zealand and track the outcomes (weight, diabetes status and need for re-operation) longitudinally for 10 years. 

Professor Brown serves the broader medical community in a wide variety of roles.  She is currently a member of the Victorian Perioperative Consultative Council and chairs the Surgical Subcommittee.  She is the Treasurer of the International Federation for Surgery for Obesity (IFSO) and is a Board Member of the James IV Surgical Society. 

She is past-president of the Australia & New Zealand Gastro Oesophageal Surgery Association and Obesity Surgery Society of Australia and New Zealand. She is a previous senior examiner in the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) Court of General Surgery Examiners and was the Scientific Convener at the 2020-2021 RACS Scientific Congress. She is the immediate past-Chair of the IFSO Global Registry Committee and past-chair of the IFSO Scientific Committee.  She has been a chair and team member of several Australian Medical Council assessment teams for undergraduate programs and was a member of the RACS board in Surgical Research.  She has previously been a member of the Victorian State Ministerial Cancer Taskforce (2003-2004) and Bariatric working party (2008), Victorian Surgical Consultative Council (2011-2016) as well as the Tasmanian Department of Health working party on Bariatric Surgery (2009-2010).  She chaired the Safer Care Victoria Expert Working Group on Bariatric Surgery (2022) and was a member of the Expert Working Group for Perioperative Capacity Framework and Interconnected Care. 

Her expertise has been demonstrated by her being the only Bariatric Surgeon included on the  working group developing international guidelines for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome as well as the NHMRC Obesity Management Guidelines 2025, the only Australian Bariatric Surgeon on the Lancet Commissioners Report defining Clinical Obesity (2022-2025) and the only Australian on the World Obesity Federation/IFSO obesity treatment guidelines (2025-). 

Professor Brown has been awarded the RACS Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution (2018,2022);  IFSO Award of Appreciation (2022),  IFSO Presidents Award (2023);  IFSO Research Excellence award (2024); Global Leader Award, American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) 2024.  The impact of her career was described in the World Journal of Surgery “Inspirational Women in Surgery” series (PMID: 37805924).

Professor Brown's obesity program focuses on understanding the disease of obesity, the impact of obesity on health as well as the benefits of weight loss. She also strives to understand the underlying physiology of bariatric procedures as well as the pathophysiology. She has a strong network of collaborators who enhance her program. In addition to her obesity program, Professor Brown leads a program focused on improving outcomes following esophagectomy for cancer.