Professor Vijayaragavan Muralidharan is Professor of Surgery and Precinct Head of the Department of Surgery, Austin Precinct, at the University of Melbourne. He commenced undergraduate medicine in Sri Lanka and graduated from Monash University with MBBS (Hons) and B Med Sci in 1991. He completed general surgical training at the Alfred Hospital, a Doctorate of Philosophy at Monash University, and a two-year fellowship in Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic (HPB) and Liver Transplantation in Birmingham, UK. He also holds a Masters in Surgical Education from the University of Melbourne. Appointed as full-time lecturer and consultant surgeon in the HPB and Transplantation Unit at Austin Health in 2004, he now serves as Director of the HPB and Liver Transplant Surgery Unit at Austin Health and Chair of the University of Melbourne Department of Surgery at Austin Hospital. Previously, he was Associate Professor and Interim Academic Lead for the Austin Precinct.

Professor Muralidharan's research centers on translational studies using circulating biomarkers to personalize therapy for HPB malignancies and liver transplantation, including prognostic parameters in colorectal liver metastases surgery and organ health biomarkers. He established and leads the BEACON (Biomarker Enhancement for Clinical Outcomes & Translation) Research Collaborative, working with the Translational Genomics & Epigenomics Group. His research is funded by grants from the Medical Research Future Fund, Cancer Council Victoria, Austin Medical Research Foundation, and the University of Melbourne. With over 5,560 citations and an h-index of 41 on Google Scholar, key publications include "Machine-Learning Algorithms Predict Graft Failure Following Liver Transplantation" (2017), "Prognostic Ability of 18F-FDG PET/CT in the Assessment of Colorectal Liver Metastases" (2012), and "Hyperbaric oxygen therapy and liver transplantation" (2008). In surgical education, he supervises training for over 25 accredited surgical trainees at Austin Health and coordinates general surgery training for more than 50 registrars in the Austin Northern Training Hub. He established the nationally recognized Austin Surgery Education Program and held positions such as Chair of the VIC/TAS Training Committee (2014-2017) and Deputy Chair of the Board in General Surgery, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (2018-2022). He founded trainee-led initiatives including the ANSA education committee and VERITAS research collaborative.

Professional Email: v.muralidharan@unimelb.edu.au