John Bryant Curtis qualified MB BS at Melbourne University in 1939. After two years in junior posts at the Royal Melbourne Hospital he served as a medical officer with the Royal Australasian Air Force from 1943 to 1946 and in the latter year gained the MS from his university. In the following year he was awarded a Postgraduate Doctoral Fellowship at Oxford University and remained there until 1950, and gained his FRCS during this period. On his return to Australia he gained the Fellowship of the Australasian College and became an honorary specialist at Prince Henry Hospital in 1951, where he worked until 1966 when he received a similar appointment at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. In 1974 he became a consultant at three Melbourne hospitals - the Queen Victoria, the Western Royal and the Royal Melbourne.