After the war, Ford wrote a thesis on malaria control in the South West Pacific, for which he was awarded his Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree by the University of Melbourne in 1946.

His first job after leaving Clunes Higher Elementary School was as a telegraph boy at the Postmaster-General's Department (PMG), which he joined in April 1917, later working in its accounts branch.

[4][5] In March 1941 he was sent to the Middle East as commanding officer of the 1st Australian Mobile Bacteriological Laboratory,[1] and was soon engaged in the diagnosis of a variety of hitherto uncertain diseases.

[6] In July 1941, Ford's unit moved to Syria, where it was attached to the 2/3rd Casualty Clearing Station, providing the latter with the diagnostic capabilities of a larger general hospital, of which none were available.

[1] To combat the danger of dysentery, Ford had all available supplies of sulphaguanidine in Australia shipped up to New Guinea, where Australian forces were fighting a desperate campaign against the Japanese.

[8] New Guinea had numerous tropical diseases that posed a threat to the health and fitness of the troops fighting there, but the biggest medical problem was malaria.

The effect was soon felt: The over-night appearance of a growing labour force, the clearing up of the hitherto obscure delays in supplies, the provision of a special officer to speed on these vital items to their destination and the emphasis laid on personal responsibility of all ranks brought about welcome changes.

Of great importance too was the recognition of the principle that patients suffering from malaria should be as far as possible retained for treatment in New Guinea, and not sent back to Australia.

[1] After the war, Ford wrote a thesis on malaria control in the South West Pacific,[2] for which he was awarded his Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree by the University of Melbourne in 1946.

[1] He received a Rockefeller Fellowship that allowed him to study at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he gained a Diploma of Public Health with distinction in 1947.

[15] In 1969 the RCP and the RACP awarded him the Neil Hamilton Fairley medal, and he was granted an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Sydney in 1971.

[16] Benedetto ("Ben") Haneman predicted that this work would be "one reason Ford's name will be permanently recalled in any study of the historiography of Australian medicine.