Founder and Chief Medical Officer of De Motu Cordis Pty Ltd (DMC), who are developing a needle free inhaler for emergency drug delivery administration. Clinical studies are ongoing with preliminary data already available. This drug delivery platform technology under development aims to improve outcomes and save lives in time-critical conditions. The first product DMC is developing is a needle-free dry powder inhaler of epinephrine currently under investigational testing for immediate management of anaphylaxis.

He is a practising ICU doctor as well as Director of the Critical Care Research Group (CCRG)(Australia’s largest critical care research group) at The University of Queensland and Immediate Past President of the Asia Pac Extracorporeal Life Support Organisation.

With more than one in 20 Americans as sufferers of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening condition, the DMC technology is eagerly awaited by patients, doctors and care givers alike. A total addressable market of around 6 USD Billion where FDA has recently approved the first nasally delivered needle-free epinephrine, now is a very exciting time for DMC and for sufferers of anaphylaxis alike.

He is a disruptor, innovator and consummate translator of his research – where his 5-year study on “rebooting a broken heart” to allow transplantation led to an international trial that has revolutionised the practice of heart transplantation. This practice has been adopted worldwide. For this, John and his team at CCRG were awarded 2024 Game Changer Award issued at the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance Excellence in Cardiovascular Research Awards.

In 2007 with Dr Daniel Timms, the device’s inventor, he co-founded BiVACOR total artificial heart company, recently featured in Good Morning America. In 2020, he established the COVID-19 Critical Care Consortium, which grew into the largest and most in-depth global COVID-19 ICU database spanning >460 hospitals in 64 countries resulting in treatment-changing discoveries.

John’s research efforts have been recognised with him being awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to medicine and global research in January 2025.  He was also named in The Australian Newspaper as one of the Top 100 Innovators 2024 for his team’s work on the spatial biological examination of human tissue from 1918 to see if there is any correlation between the Spanish Flu and Covid-19. John is also recognised in the World’s Top 2% Scientists for his contribution to research.

He has 5 professorships across major Australian universities with over 750 publications and has raised more than $120million in competitive research grants.

John is a proud father of five great children: Ben, Dominic, Nicholas, Lucy and Tommy.