John Herbert Dirks (born August 20, 1933) is a Canadian physician.

[1] Born to a Mennonite family in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Dirks studied medicine at the University of Manitoba and received a fellowship in medicine from the Royal College of Physicians in 1963.

[2] From 1963 to 1965, he trained in nephrology research at the National Institutes of Health.

He then became the head of the nephrology division at the Royal Victoria Hospital.

In 1993, he became president and scientific director at the Gairdner Foundation and also serves as chair of the Medical Advisory Board and of the Canada Gairdner Wightman Committee for the foundation.