Dr Challis grew up in Launceston and attended Medical School at the University of Tasmania. He qualified as an anaesthetist in 2011, and has worked in both public and private practice in Hobart since commencing specialist practice in 2012. He has worked for The Hobart Anaesthetic Group since 2012, but formally joined the practice in 2020.

His main areas of anaesthetic interest are: neurosurgery, orthopaedics, thoracic surgery, difficult airway management, regional anaesthesia, use of ultrasound in anaesthesia, intra-operative cell salvage, and acute pain management.

Dr Challis is also the Clinical lead for Research and Audits in the Anaesthetic Department at the Royal Hobart Hospital, and continues to be involved in several large international multi-centre anaesthetic studies.

Dr Challis is keen to see some patients in the rooms pre-operatively if they are having specific types of surgery or have significant health problems. This allows sufficient time to manage and optimise things beforehand to ensure that things go as smoothly as possible on the day of surgery. Depending on the type of surgery Dr Challis may also visit you for one or more days after your surgery to manage your pain relief.

Outside work Dr Challis enjoys spending time with his family and cycling.