John Stephen Horvath is an Australian medical doctor and the

Chief Medical Officer Chief medical officer (CMO) is the title used in many countries for the senior government official designated head of medical services, sometimes at the national level. The post is held by a physician who serves to advise and lead a team of medical ...

of Australia between 2003 and 2009. Horvath is Deputy Chairman of

Crown Resorts Crown Resorts Limited is Australia's largest gaming and entertainment group that owns and operates two of Australia's leading gambling and entertainment complexes, Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth. It was listed on the Australian Securities Exc ...

Limited. Horvath is also Group Chief Medical Officer of

Ramsay Health Care Ramsay Health Care Limited is an Australian multinational healthcare provider and hospital network, founded by Paul Ramsay in Sydney, Australia, in 1964. The company operates in Australia, Europe, the UK, and Asia, specialising in surgery, rehab ...

and a Director of the Ramsay Hospital Research Foundation and the Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation.

Early life and education

Horvath's parents, Stephen and Ann, emigrated in 1948 when John was 4 to escape the Communist takeover of Hungary. Horvath graduated from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

with a

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

in 1968.

Career

Horvath practiced for 30 years at

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (abbreviated RPAH or RPA) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located on Missenden Road in Camperdown. It is a teaching hospital of the Central Clinical School of the Sydney Medical School ...

in Sydney, including as director of

renal The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...

and transplant services between 1997 and 2003. He is distinguished as having been the late

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

's nephrologist and was instrumental to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital's profile as a kidney-transplantation facility. Horvath was also deputy chair of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

's international cancer research institute in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

in France.

Chief Medical Officer of Australia

Horvath served as the Chief Medical Officer of Australia and chaired the National Influenza Pandemic Action Committee. In planning Australia's response to a flu pandemic, Horvath said, alluding to measures that have been used in the years since his tenure as the Chief Medical Officer, "There's lots of things we could do before border closures: alerts, screening, being aware one of our neighbouring countries has a high-level alert … then there's the no-brainers: we want to make it socially unacceptable to go to work coughing, spluttering, infecting the entire staff. In Japan, it's regarded as very bad manners".

Honours

Horvath was made an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in the 2001 Australia Day Honours for "service to medicine, particularly in the field of hypertension, as a consultant physician and a clinical tutor of medicine, and to medical administration.".

Personal life

Horvath is married to his classmate Professor Diana Horvath. After graduation and 3 years' practice as junior doctors in Sydney, the two worked together for 2 years at

Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 mo ...

in Maryland in the United States before returning to Australia. The Horvaths have two children, one of whom, Lisa, is a medical oncologist at the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse near the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and a graduate of the Horvath's alma mater, the University of Sydney; another, Penny, is an arts/law graduate of the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Australian medical doctors 21st-century Australian public servants Officers of the Order of Australia Sydney Medical School alumni Australian people of Hungarian descent {{Australia-bio-stub