Julian Smith is Professor and Head of the Department of Surgery (School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health) at Monash University and the Senior Cardiothoracic Surgeon in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Victorian Heart Hospital (Monash Health). He is a previous Councillor of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and a past-President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons. A distinguished academic surgeon, his main clinical and research interests are in less invasive cardiac surgery, robotically assisted surgery, mechanical support of the circulation, cardiothoracic surgery audit/databases and surgical education/publishing. He has been Editor-in-Chief of the ANZ J Surgery since 2019.