John Last was born and educated in Australia. He graduated from the University of Adelaide medical school in 1949. After five years of hospital training and five years in general practice, interspersed with intercontinental voyages as a ship=s surgeon, he specialized in public health and epidemiology. He has worked as an epidemiologist and educator in Australia, England, Scotland, the United States, and for the World Health Organization and other agencies in Colombia, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Kuwait, and for WHO Headquarters in Geneva.

Dr. Last was president of the American College of Preventive Medicine 1987-89, Canadian Vice-President of the American Public Health Association 1988-89, and has held office in several other national and international professional colleges and associations. He is an honorary life member of the Society for Social Medicine (UK), the International Epidemiological Association and the American College of Epidemiology. His recent awards include a Rockefeller Foundation visiting scholar appointment at the Villa Serbelloni, Lake Como, Italy; an honorary MD from Uppsala University, Sweden; the Special Recognition Award of the American College of Preventive Medicine; the Duncan Clark Award of the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine (for contributions to preventive medicine); and the Abraham Lilienfeld Award of the American College of Epidemiology (for contributions to epidemiology).

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