Biography

John Wright graduated with honours in medicine from Sydney University in 1955 and was appointed to the professorial units at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. He went on to become senior surgical registrar and surgical superintendent until he departed in 1960 for post-graduate studies in England and the United States.

He completed a FRACS degree in 1959 and specialised in cardio-thoracic surgery in Sydney before appointment as senior registrar in the Liverpool Regional Thoracic Centre. From there he was appointed to Fellowships of Stanford University and the University of Michigan and gained Fellowship diplomas of the American Colleges of Surgeons and Chest Physicians.

He was appointed cardio-thoracic surgeon to the Prince Henry and Prince of Wales hospitals in Sydney in 1964 and consulted at 10 hospitals in New South Wales. He subsequently became head of department with a conjoint professorial appointment at the University of NSW. 

He was appointed foundation head of Paediatric Cardio-thoracic Surgery at the Prince of Wales Children’s Hospital, Sydney, in 1985. He rejected further appointment at that hospital in 1986 and took up private practice in Sydney and, later, consulting interests in the South Pacific region.

Happy babies within a week of open-heart surgery