Professor Tony Costello AM
Urologist
Australian Prostate Centre

Professor Costello is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons specialising in urological surgery. He is the former Head of the Department of Urology at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Professorial Fellow in the Melbourne University Department of Surgery from 1999 - 2020. Prior to this he was the Head of the Urology Department at St Vincent’s Hospital for 9 years between 1990 and 1999. After completion of the fellowship in Australia he went to the University of Texas, Houston where he successfully completed a fellowship specialising in urological cancer surgery.  

Professor Costello pioneered robotic surgery in Australia. In 2003 he performed the first open radical prostatectomy using robotic surgery in Australia at Epworth Hospital which was then the fifth machine in the world. He is an invited faculty member of the American Urological Association where annually he teaches aspects of robotic surgery to an international audience. He is also on the Editorial Board of the US publication Journal of Robotic Surgery and the Journal of Endourology. He has published over 300 scientific manuscripts in scientific journals and 30 book chapters.

Professor Costello is one of two Australians to be honoured with membership of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons. The AAGUS is an Association of leading academic urologists from the United States, Canada and around the world dedicated to the study of diseases of the genitourinary system. Active membership is limited to 75 of the world’s most distinguished academic urological specialists.

Professor Costello recently (2020) was rated by Stanford University in the top 2% of 65000 scientists worldwide whose contributions to publications in research and clinical medicine in the field of genitourinary publications were assessed over the past 100 years.

In 2022 he was invited to present the Sir Peter Freyer Memorial Lecture, Royal Society of Medicine Ireland - Transitioning of surgical training from Halsted to Robotics. Professor Costello is passionate about re-shaping the current surgical training pathway by creating linear and proficiency-based curriculum including the use of high-fidelity hydro-gel models.