WOOMB International

About Us

Patron of WOOMB International

Professor John Edward Murtagh

Professor John Edward Murtagh AO, MB BS (Monash), MD (Monash), BSc, BEd, FRACGP, DipObstRCOG

John Murtagh is Emeritus Professor in General Practice, Monash University, Melbourne and Professorial Fellow in the Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne. He is also Guest Professor, Peking University, Beijing, China and Adjunct Clinical Professor, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Western Australia.

After matriculating from Hamilton High School he attended the University of Melbourne where he obtained Bachelors of Science and Education. He then became a science teacher for four years in the Victorian Secondary School system before being admitted to the new medical faculty of Monash University and was one of the original twenty nine medical graduates of 1966. He eventually entered rural medical practice in Neerim South, Gippsland, Victoria where he practiced for ten years. He was appointed Senior Lecturer at Monash University while in Rural Practice and subsequently Professor of General Practice in 1993 and Head of Department of General Practice until retirement from that position.  He continues his Emeritus University responsibilities through honorary seminars and keynote lectures.

John Murtagh is the author of several internationally adopted text books including Murtagh’s General PracticePractice Tips, Back Pain and Spinal manipulation, Patient Education and Cautionary Tales. Murtagh’s General Practice has been translated into thirteen languages and has been the adopted family medicine text by both the Russian and Chinese Ministries of Health. In 1995 he was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to medical education, research and publishing. In 2019 this award was upgraded to an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his distinguished service to medicine, and to medical education, in the field of general practice, and to professional groups. In 2005 he was awarded the David de Kretser medal for exceptional contribution to the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science, Monash University ‘over a significant period of time’. Other awards include the Australian Medical Association (Victoria) Gold Medal (2007), Monash Distinguished Alumni Award (1996) and the Rose Hunt RACGP Award (2003).