BJA appoints Professor Kate Leslie as Editor-in-Chief

Professor Leslie, a member and former chair of the ANZCA Clinical Trials Network, brings more than 30 years’ experience in publishing to her new role. She joined the BJA Associate Editorial Board in 2013, the editorial board in 2017, and the editor team in 2022. 

She was a guest editor of the BJA Special Issue for Women in Anaesthesia Research published in April 2026. In addition, she has served on the editorial boards of Anesthesia & Analgesia, Anesthesiology, Miller’s Anesthesia and TopMedTalk.

A former head of the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges and the Australian Medical Council, Professor Leslie is a leading perioperative clinical trialist. Her interests include anaesthetic depth monitoring and awareness, major perioperative outcomes, sex and gender equity and building the next generation of research leaders. She was a leader of the B-Aware, ENIGMA 1-2, POISE 1-3, RELIEF, Balanced, PADDI, ROCKet, Chewy and SNaPP trials and is a steering committee member for the LOLIPOP and PROMPT-O2 trials. 

Her distinguished contributions to medical research and leadership were recognised by the award of Officer in the Order of Australia in 2014, fellowship of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in 2015, Doctor of Medical Science honoris causa, University of Melbourne, in 2017 and the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Excellence in Research Award in 2025.

As a consultant anaesthetist and head of research in the Department of Anaesthesia and Pain Management, Royal Melbourne Hospital, and an honorary professorial fellow in the Department of Critical Care, University of Melbourne, her clinical interests include major non-cardiac surgery, trauma surgery and perioperative medicine.

Professor Leslie takes over from Professor Hugh Hemmings Jr who has held the role for 10 years. 

The BJA is now the top-ranked journal by impact factor in its field. 

More information can be found here.