Professor John Simes AO is a Senior Principal Research Fellow and was the Founding Director of the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre (CTC) for a period of 33 years. He is currently the Senior Associate Director at the CTC, which is now called the Sydney Clinical Trials Centre.
John is a leading international researcher in clinical trials, particularly in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and neonatal medicine. Since 1988, John co-led the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre collaborating with clinical investigators and other researchers nationally and internationally in a research program aimed at improving health practice and health outcomes through better use of clinical trials research. He has continued collaborative clinical research more recently through an NHMRC Program Grant and an NHMRC Investigator Grant. Among the previous top 2% of most cited researchers globally, he has contributed to over 490 peer-reviewed articles with over 98,000 citations, significantly shaping current medical knowledge and clinical practice.
John was a founding member of the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA), formed in 2012 to promote effective and evidence based healthcare in Australia through investigator-initiated clinical trials. He is a practicing medical oncologist in neuro-oncology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse and is Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney. He has taught medical students and postgraduate students at the University of Sydney since 1989.
John was awarded the Cancer Achievement Award for lifetime achievement in oncology by the Medical Oncology Group of Australia (2010) and the Distinguished Harvard Alum Award (Biostatistics) from Harvard University (2009) in recognition of his work in research. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and a member of research committees, trials groups and boards, including cancer cooperative groups and safety and data monitoring committees. In 2020, John received an Order of Australia award (AO) for his service to education and medicine in cancer research and clinical trials.
