John Michael Dwyer, AO (born 9 September 1939) is an Australian doctor, professor of medicine, and public health advocate.

[6][7][8] He emphasised that years of experience in managing HIV/AIDS have confirmed that legislation and policy is most effective when it respects the human rights of the people concerned, especially non-discrimination, equality, and due process.

[14] He has also written books, including: Dwyer served as Professor and Clinical Dean of the Faculty of Medicine for more than twenty years, until his retirement in 2006.

[1][2][15] Following his retirement from full-time teaching, he was appointed as an Emeritus Professor at the University of NSW[16] and he is a Director of the Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation.

[17] In addition to his formal academic roles, Dwyer has been involved with bodies that advise policy, including co-chairman of the Medical Staff Executive Council of NSW.

Dwyer is a passionate advocate for structural reform of Australia's primary care system, which he says fails to provide preventive strategies to minimise lifestyle-related chronic and complex diseases, which in turn place enormous strain on public hospitals.

He advocates the "Medical Home" concept that features multi-disciplinary primary care teams who facilitate an approach that involves the community seeking clinical help to stay well, not just treat disease.

[19] He is frequently quoted in the press as an expert on matters such as managing the costs of health care,[20] the risks of having universities become dependent on corporate sponsorship,[21][22][23] anti-vaccine conspiracy theories,[24] and unproven practices such as homeopathy,[25] "detoxification",[26] nutritional supplements,[23][27] "slapping therapy"[28] or "esoteric breast massage".

Dwyer pointed out that there are dependencies between these, for example every day the Prince of Wales Hospital was forced to turn away ambulances, because its emergency departments were filled with patients who could not get a bed in a nursing home, or who had no access to a bulk-billing doctor.

Their evaluation of the AHCRA at that time was that it "has already proved to be a powerful force in persuading governments and the community about the necessity and value of making fundamental changes to the structure and funding of Australian health care.

[2][38] In 2011, Dwyer formed the organization Friends of Science in Medicine (FSM) with a group of Australian doctors, medical researchers and scientists.

Dwyer has raised concerns that instead of providing improved accountability, these changes may simply confer an appearance of respectability and professionalism which is not warranted: he told Australasian Science that "it is increasingly difficult to encourage patients to accept only evidence-based treatments for their problems when some universities and indeed private health insurers, provide unacceptable, often dangerous practices with undeserved credibility.

"[46] In 2011, he organized a group of 34 prominent Australian doctors, medical researchers and scientists who wrote an open letter to Central Queensland University to express their concerns about its plans to teach “alternative medicine" courses as if they were science.

"[46][47] Similarly, in The Medical Journal of Australia in February 2014 he argues that the pharmaceutical industry's growing practice of selling homeopathic and naturopathic preparations, and nutritional supplements, seriously undermines their standing as trusted professionals, and that "one can only imagine that commercial reasons dominate.

Writing for the Medical Journal of Australia, Dwyer highlighted the potential for a conflict of interest, to the detriment of the university, and he concluded that there is no value in repeating this research which has been done many times.

[44] Dwyer was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (OA) in 1991, in recognition of his "service to public health, particularly through the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases".

[49] He was appointed Emeritus Professor to recognize his distinguished service to the University of NSW,[16] and the John Dwyer Lecture Theatre in the Prince of Wales Hospital is named after him.