John Smithson

Dr John Smithson is an Associate Professor with more than two decades of academic experience at James Cook University. He is a dual-registered pharmacist and registered nurse with extensive clinical experience across public remote and regional hospitals and private community and consultant pharmacy practice.

His professional and academic interests centre on pharmacist prescribing and scope-of-practice reform, institutional systems and processes for improving teaching and learning quality, novel teaching methods that build undergraduate job-readiness, and prescribing quality grounded in evidence-based practice and evaluation. His research also spans the professional scope of practice and the use of simulation in teaching.

Dr Smithson has extensive teaching experience, including embedding simulation-based learning in undergraduate curricula and broader curriculum planning and implementation across a range of professional health degrees. He has led a number of major curriculum redevelopment projects and new curriculum launches — including the accelerated Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours), the national Graduate Certificate of Advanced Practice and Prescribing for Pharmacists, and the forthcoming Doctor of Pharmacy — and brings extensive experience in project management and curriculum design.

Dr Smithson has held a series of senior executive roles across the Faculty and Division, including Foundation Associate Dean of Learning and Teaching, Acting Head of Nursing and Midwifery, and periods as Acting Dean of the College of Medicine and Dentistry. He has served as Academic Head of Pharmacy at James Cook University since 2019, and in early 2026 was appointed a Board Director of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.

Dr Smithson enjoys the sport of field archery and is also a keen adventure rider. He particularly enjoys tackling rough, unpredictable terrain, which he believes is good preparation for academic practice.