He has served the United Nations for 21 years, joining UNAIDS as Country Programme Adviser to Lao PDR; subsequently working in the Programme's regional office for South-East Asia & the Pacific as Team Leader. He was then seconded to UNICEF as Regional Adviser, HIV and Young People's Health and Development in the regional office for Central Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States, with responsibility for programming in 21 countries. On return to UNAIDS, he served as Country Director to Cambodia and Viet Nam. Prior to retirement from the United Nations, he served as the UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Representative to the Maldives.
Mr Lisle previously worked with Save the Children Fund Australia's Lao PDR programme, as Country Director, managing AusAID's largest primary/maternal health and social development investments. During the early 1980s he worked in India with local non-governmental rural development organizations before joining Oxfam Australia where he managed the agency's South Asia programme.
He is an Associate of the Burnet Institute's Centre for International Health, Melbourne, Australia and was an inaugural Advisory Board member of the Centre for International Sustainable Development, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom. His contributions to public health and community development have been recognised through various commendations and awards from international organisations and governments.