John Colquhoun Belisario was born 30th April 1900 in Sydney, the only son of Guy Alexander Fernandez Belisario, Solicitor, and Isabel Colquhoun (née Fraser). He was the grandson of John Belisario (born London 1820) who had an extensive practice in dental surgery, and who has been named the Father of Australian Dentistry; it has been claimed that he gave the first anaesthetic in the Australian colonies.
J C Belisario attended The King's School, Parramatta and graduated MB ChM from the University of Sydney in 1926. He became a resident medical officer at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in 1926, and registrar in dermatology and venereal diseases in 1927 to 1928. In 1929, he undertook post-graduate studies in London, Edinburgh, Paris and Breslau. He was Honorary Medical Officer to the Venereal Diseases Department at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital from 1929, until 1941. He was appointed clinical assistant physician in diseases of the skin in 1932, eventually becoming honorary physician in 1944. He became a member of the Board of Directors at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in 1955.
J C B, as he was affectionately known, was an enthusiastic member of the Australian Army Medical Corps before the Second World War and in 1940, he was appointed Commanding Officer of the 2/3 Australian Casualty Clearing Station, and led this unit during the Greek campaign, including the evacuation. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (1942) for his services at that time. He was promoted Colonel, Commanding Officer 2/5 Australian General Hospital 1941 to 1944, and was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (1946). He was Consultant Dermatologist for the Australian Imperial Force, Middle East in 1941.
In 1945, he succeeded E H Molesworth as lecturer in diseases of the skin at the University of Sydney. He was responsible for the establishment of the Diploma in Dermatological Medicine (University of Sydney) and was its first course supervisor. This provided formal training in dermatology in Sydney, eliminating the need to travel overseas, and attracted students from Australia and New Zealand.
He was secretary to the New South Wales Branch of the British Association of Dermatologists in 1932 to 1939, and was appointed president in 1945. With others, he was the driving force behind the formation of the Dermatological Association of Australia in 1949, becoming its foundation president. He was later to become the foundation president of the Australasian College of Dermatologists at its formation in 1966. He was an omnivorous reader of world dermatological literature and a prodigious writer who contributed to the journals of many countries in all parts of the world, from Argentina to Yugoslavia. In 1958, Butterworth and Company published his monograph on "Cancer of the Skin". The number of his published papers amounted to 109. He was on the editorial board of various international journals and was president of the International Society of Tropical Dermatology from 1969 to 1974. He was an international honorary member of the American Dermatological Association, an honorary member of the British Association of Dermatology, and of 32 other medical and dermatological societies. He was an inveterate traveller, and an enthusiastic ambassador, who was probably known personally to more international dermatologists than any other doctor of any nation.
In 1930, Belisario married Freda Adele Sauber of Los Angeles, known as Peggy. There are two daughters of the union. In all of his work, John Belisario was encouraged and sustained by his wife, from whose loss he did not recover.