Dr Matthew Peters is a Specialist Plastic Surgeon, holding Fellowships of both the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the American College of Surgeons. He is the Co-director of Valley Plastic Surgery and Director of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.  Academically, Dr Peters is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland School of Medicine.  He is also a Councilor and is the current Honorary Secretary of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Dr Peters was born and raised in Brisbane, Australia. He undertook his tertiary studies at the University of Queensland, obtaining a Bachelor of Science, a

Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery. Whilst working as an intern doctor at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, he was selected into the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) Basic Surgical Training program. Upon successful completion of the RACS surgical primary examination, he applied for and was selected to undertake advanced training in General Surgery. After completing three years of General Surgery training in hospitals throughout Queensland, Dr Peters was selected to undertake further training in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Five years of supervised training at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Royal Children’s Hospital, the Mater Hospital, and Greenslopes Private Hospital, and successful completion of the RACS Fellowship examination resulted in Dr Peters obtaining Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in the Specialty of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Since obtaining his Fellowship, Dr Peters has worked in both public and private hospitals across Brisbane. He was made Director of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in 2014, a position that he still maintains to date. In the private sector he is the Co-director of Valley Plastic Surgery, with operating lists at the Brisbane Private Hospital, Northwest Hospital, Montsserat Day Hospital North Lakes and Chermside Day Hospitals.

Throughout his career Dr Peters has been actively involved in the training of medical students and surgical trainees. He was the first recipient of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ John Corboy Medal, awarded in 2010 for service to trainees. In 2014 he was made a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland School of Medicine, in recognition of his involvement in surgical education and research. He maintains an active involvement in the training of the next generation of Plastic and Reconstructive surgeons, through his work at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospitals but also as a Council member of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Dr Peters also contributes significantly in representative positions within medicine.  During his surgical training he was a Board-member and Chair of the RACS Trainee’s Association. In 2014 he coordinated the RACS Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship Examination in Brisbane and was a member of the Executive Planning Committee in 2016 for the RACS Annual Scientific Congress. In 2020 Dr Peters was elected as a Councilor of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, being awarded the position of Honorary Secretary in 2021. He is the current Australian representative of the International Young Plastic Surgeons committee.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and holds membership positions with the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.  He is also an academic advisor for multiple international surgical device companies. Locally, Dr Peters is the surgical representative on the Northwest Private Hospital Medical Advisory Committee and the Brisbane Private Hospital Perioperative Committee.

Outside of work Dr Peters enjoys spending time with his wife, Dr Juanita Pappalardo, herself a Specialist Ophthalmologist, their four children and two dogs.