Associate Professor John Collins, a certified general surgeon with over three decades of specialised experience as a breast surgeon, has an extensive professional background. He has held the position of Head of the Breast Unit at both the Royal Women’s Hospital and the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Currently, he maintains his consulting practice at the public Royal Melbourne Hospital and privately at the Epworth Freemasons Hospital.
From the inception of Breastscreen, Professor Collins has been closely associated with the initiative, having served on the Board of Breastscreen Victoria for a decade. Additionally, he holds the position of associate professor at the University of Melbourne within the Royal Melbourne Hospital Department of Surgery. His medical education, encompassing undergraduate and postgraduate training, took place at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, with subsequent overseas experience in the United Kingdom and the United States.
A founding member of the Australia and New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group (now known as Breast Trials Australia), Professor Collins also contributed to the International Breast Cancer Study Group, serving as its president for a decade. While he has ceased surgical operations, he remains active as a consultant at Epworth Freemasons, the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and North West Breastscreen.
In his current capacity, Associate Professor Collins specialises in providing expert reports for medicolegal cases, particularly those related to both benign and malignant breast diseases.
