Events & support groups

This lecture series commemorates the significant contribution the late Emeritus Professor Louis Waller made to the field of assisted reproductive treatment (ART) in Victoria. Every year guest speakers are invited to discuss controversial issues and ideas that challenge our thinking on fertility, ART and the law. 

About Emeritus Professor Louis Waller AO (1935-2019)

Among his many achievements, Professor Louis Waller was instrumental in setting up world-first legislation during the 1980s to regulate the use of ART in Victoria. His framework (the Infertility (Medical Procedures) Act 1984) prioritised the interests of people using fertility medicine and the children born as a result.  

Professor Waller went on to chair the Standing Review Advisory Committee on Infertility, and in 1995 he became the inaugural chair of the Infertility Treatment Authority – the organisation that preceded VARTA. Professor Waller also chaired the first review of the Act during his time at the Victorian Law Reform Commission. 
 
One of Professor Waller's most significant contributions was the establishment of a register to record and preserve information about donors and pregnancies, so that donor-conceived people could discover their origins. Every day VARTA staff witness the enormous impact this register has on people's lives.  

You can read Monash University’s obituary for Professor Waller here.  

Previous Louis Waller lectures