Dr John Harrison has served the Australian medical profession almost unceasingly since he graduated from Medical School; indeed, he has lived a life of concern for his colleagues on a daily basis. At the same time, John represented Australia at Water Polo as an Olympic goalkeeper, team manager and team doctor. During his career John has also maintained an active interest in water polo and open ocean swimming, as well as running a highly successful private practice, along with many years of service as an honorary VMO in the NSW public hospital system.
Dr Harrison played a leading role in the 1984 Doctors’ Dispute and later accepted the position of Treasurer in the NSW AMA as part of a reform group. He subsequently went on to serve as a Director and Chairman of the ADF, Director of the Council of Procedural Specialists (COPS), Chairman of the Australian Society of Orthopaedic Surgeons and President of the Australian Orthopaedic Association, where he was awarded the L O Betts Medal for clinical excellence.
The profession will always remain in enormous debt to John Meredith Harrison. No one could have a better soldier on their side, and there is no more deserving awardee of the Bruce Shepherd Medal for outstanding service to independent medicine.