Rate My Professor Le Souef

Professor Peter Le Souef is the Winthrop Professor of Paediatrics and Senior Principal Research Fellow in the UWA Medical School, University of Western Australia. He obtained his MBBS from the University of Western Australia in 1971, followed by MRCP(UK), FRACP in 1980, and MD (Western Australia). His postgraduate training included house physician in paediatrics at University College Hospital, London (1974-1975), research registrar in neonatology there (1976-1977), research fellow in respiratory physiology at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto (1981-1982), and research fellow in paediatric respiratory medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne (1983-1984). In his career, he served as Founding Head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth (1984-1998), and has been a Consultant Respiratory Physician in the same department since 1984. At UWA, he was Senior Lecturer (1985-1992) and Associate Professor (1992-1998) in Paediatrics, becoming Professor of Paediatrics in 1998. He headed the School of Paediatrics and Child Health during 1998-2001 and 2004-2016, and has led the Children’s Respiratory Science Group since 1985. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute.

Professor Le Souef specializes in paediatric respiratory medicine, with research interests in infant respiratory function, aerosol drug delivery to children, immunogenetics of asthma and HIV, mechanisms of viral respiratory infections in children, and the future of child health amid climate change, environmental decline, and population pressures. He has over 250 peer-reviewed publications and 352 research outputs. Key publications include 'A differentiated nasal epithelial cell model derived from children with acute wheeze and asthma' (Watkinson et al., 2026, Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology), 'Climate change policies fail to protect child health' (Ubalde et al., 2025, Globalization and Health), 'The definition of asthma remission in children: A scoping review by the WAO Paediatric Asthma Committee' (Anastasiou et al., 2026, World Allergy Organization Journal), and 'Clinical Predictors of Longitudinal Respiratory Exacerbation Outcomes in Young Hospitalised Children' (Coleman et al., 2025, Clinical & Experimental Allergy). He has raised more than $15 million in competitive research funding, led 16 NHMRC projects (three ongoing), and established international research collaborations in regions including South America, Africa, Greenland, Siberia, and Karelia. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 9. Awards include the Research Medal from the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand Scientific Meeting and Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.