After completing his medical education in Ireland, John underwent surgical training in England during which time he shared in the Moynihan Prize and was awarded his MCH. He then joined the University Department of Surgery in Auckland and later completed his MD in medical education. He subsequently became head of one the University’s two clinical schools and head of General Surgery at Middlemore Hospital. He has served on a number of New Zealand Ministry of Health Committees. 

 

He has been a member of the Board of Surgical Training, Chair of the Court of Examiners in General Surgery and Foundation Dean of Education at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He was Chair of the Australian Medical Council’s Joint Committee on Overseas Trained Specialists (JSCOTS). He has led major reviews of medical education in the UK, of the Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand, Queensland Medical School, and Post Graduate Medical Training in New South Wales. 

 

He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and the Academy of Medical Educators UK. He has been a Hunterian Professorship at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and was awarded the Sir Louis Barnett Prize, the Sir Alan Newton, Herbert Moran, and Archibald Watson Medals by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Until recently he was Visiting Professor in the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences and Fellow of Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford.  John is currently Professorial Fellow in Surgery at the University of Melbourne, Honorary Professor at the University of Auckland, and recently completed a PhD in History at the University of Auckland. He was recently appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in the King’s Birthday Honours List 2004.