Rate My Professor Leonid Churilov

Professor Leonid Churilov is Professor of Biostatistics in the Melbourne Medical School at the University of Melbourne, within the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. He completed his BSc (Hons) in 1993 and PhD in Operations Research in 1998, both at the University of Melbourne. His career trajectory includes positions as Senior Principal Research Fellow and Head of Biostatistics and Decision Analysis at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health from 2007 to 2019. Since 2019, he has held his current professorial role and serves as Honorary Professorial Fellow at the Florey Institute. Additionally, he is Biostatistics Lead at Austin Hospital and Head of the Biostatistics and Optimization Platform for the Australian Stroke Alliance. Churilov co-chairs the Australasian Stroke Trials Network and contributes to Data Safety Monitoring Boards for numerous large clinical trials.

Leonid Churilov is an internationally recognized expert in health analytics, statistical modelling, and decision support systems for clinical and health care applications. His research specializations encompass biostatistics methodology for clinical trials, including adaptive designs, early-phase studies, ordinal outcomes, and non-pharmaceutical complex interventions, as well as simulation and modelling. He applies his expertise across pre-clinical, clinical, imaging, and service evaluation studies in stroke, general neurology, epilepsy, mental health, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, diabetes, oncology, gynaecology, and anaesthesia, supporting large international trials and smaller projects. Churilov has co-authored over 400 publications, amassing more than 36,300 citations. Key works include 'Endovascular therapy for ischemic stroke with perfusion-imaging selection' (New England Journal of Medicine, 2015) and 'Tenecteplase versus alteplase before thrombectomy for ischemic stroke' (New England Journal of Medicine, 2018). He serves as Associate Editor for Operations Research for Health Care and editorial board member for four other journals. His contributions have directly influenced clinical guidelines in Australia and internationally. Notable honors include election as Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (FAHMS) in 2022, the Excellence in Mentoring Award from the Stroke Society of Australasia in 2023, and international and national awards from operational research societies in the USA, Japan, and Australia. Over 15 years, his mentoring has shaped a generation of clinical neuroscience researchers, including students and clinician-researchers across Australia and beyond.