James St John was born in South Camberwell on 12 June 1936, the third child and oldest son of Reginald and Leila St. John. His schooling was at Camberwell South State School (to 1946) and Wesley College, Melbourne (1947-53) before entering The University of Melbourne. After graduating in medicine in December 1959, he undertook physician training at The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) and Alfred Hospital, Melbourne followed by 12 Months each at Guy’s Hospital and West Middlesex Hospital in London.

Early in 1967, he returned from London to full-time academic and clinical roles at Alfred Hospital and Monash University (Senior Lecturer in Medicine 1971-77). His principal research interests in those years were on aspirin-related gastric injury, especially aspirin-induced chronic gastric ulcer and gastric adaptation to aspirin injury, and on gastrointestinal blood loss.

He then moved back to RMH in August 1977 as their inaugural Director of Gastroenterology, a position he held until mid-2001. This was an exciting time when gastroenterology was being transformed by introduction of new endoscopic and radiologic procedures, greatly expanding the range of diagnostic and therapeutic services offered by gastroenterology departments.

One unique service at RMH catered for the needs of those with strong family histories of colorectal cancer, providing a hospital-based register from 1979 to support endoscopic surveillance in affected families. This later evolved into a state-wide service.

He also established a special biochemical research laboratory at RMH to evaluate faecal occult blood tests. James and colleagues Finlay Macrae and Graeme Young studied candidate tests for bowel cancer population screening.

James also contributed to a number of national and international organisations, including:

• Gastroenterological Society of Australia (President, 1987-89, Chair, Australian Gastroenterology Institute, 1993-95)
• 7th World Congress of Digestive Endoscopy (President, 1990)
• Governing Councils of the Asian-Pacific Association of Gastroenterology (Member, 1988-96)
• World Organisation of Digestive Endoscopy (Member, 1988-94)
• Scientific Advisory Board of the WHO Collaborating Center for Prevention of Colorectal Cancer based in New York (participating scientist and Member, 1988-98)

On retiring from RMH and from patient care in 2001, he became Senior Clinical Consultant in the National Cancer Control Initiative (2001-06) and then Honorary Senior Associate at Cancer Council Victoria and Honorary Clinical Professorial Fellow at The University of Melbourne. Having worked closely for over 10 years with the principal investigators of the major international trials on FOBT-based population screening, bowel cancer screening then became his main activity.

He was a member of the AHTAC working party (1995-97) to advise government on the potential for bowel cancer screening in Australia and an advisor to the Commonwealth Department of Health and Cancer Council Australia after the decision was made to establish the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.

In 2008-09, he was Chair, Quality Working Group Report on ‘Improving Colonoscopy Services in Australia’ and, between 2005 and 2018, helped develop four sets of NHMRC-approved clinical practice guidelines on management of colorectal cancer.

James’s current interests outside medicine are centred on his wife, Margaret, their four children and 12 grandchildren and gardening, music and reading.

Awards and honours

• Fellow of the Asian-Pacific Society of Digestive Endoscopy (1991)
• Member of the General Division of the Order of Australia (1998)
• The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) Award for Service to Health (2001)
• Life Member, Gastroenterological Society of Australia (2002)
• Cancer Council Victoria President’s Award for Volunteer of the Year (2012)
• Inaugural Inductee, The RMH Research Hall of Fame (2014)
• Doctor of Medical Science (honoris causa), The University of Melbourne (2016)
• Officer of the General Division of the Order of Australia (2017)