Professor John B. Saunders is a consultant physician in internal medicine and addiction medicine. He has had senior appointments at the Universities of Queensland and Sydney and the St John of God and Wesley private hospital groups in Australia. He qualified in science (pharmacology) and medicine from the University of Cambridge, and undertook specialist medical training in internal medicine, gastroenterology and liver disease, and addiction medicine.
His career as a clinician, service director, researcher and academic in the alcohol and drug field extends back over 45 years. He is experienced in all aspects of addictive disorders and is engaged in individual clinical work and in treatment programs together with service standards and evaluation. His research encompasses screening and early diagnosis, brief interventions, assessment instruments, susceptibility to alcohol and drug-related disorders, treatment of alcohol, opioid and psychostimulant disorders and medical education in addiction studies.
John has worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) for many years and was responsible for developing the AUDIT questionnaire (the standardized self-assessment test for alcohol use disorders). He is a member of WHO's Expert Advisory Panel on Substance Abuse and the ICD 11 Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders Workgroup and was previously Co-Chair of the DSM V Substance Use Disorders Workgroup (2003-2007).
He is Founding and Emeritus Editor-in-Chief of the Drug and Alcohol Review, Section Editor for Addictive Disorders for Current Opinion in Psychiatry, and member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. He has been a member of many state and federal Australian Government committees, including the NSW Drug Offensive Council from 1986 to 1996 and the Australian National Council on Drugs (2001-2008), which reported directly to the Prime Minister.
He was the President of the ISBRA-APSAAR World Congress on Alcohol and Addictions, co-sponsored by WHO, which was held in Melbourne in September 2024 and Co-Chair of the International Medicine in Addiction Conference which was held in Sydney in August 2025.
He is currently President of the Australasian Chapter of Addiction Medicine, Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) and Director (previously Founding Chair and President) of the Australian Gaming and Screening Alliance (AGASA).
Professor Saunders has published six books, including the new third edition "Handbook of Addiction Medicine" published by Oxford University Press, "Young People and Alcohol," and over 360 scientific papers, reviews and book chapters. He is an ISI Highly Cited Scientist, with accumulated citations exceeding 48,000.
In April 2022, John established the Saunders Research Fellowship at his alma mater, the University of Cambridge. The fellowship provides funding for academics early in their career undertaking research in the sciences and humanities, including history, ancient and modern languages and other areas of the humanities. John is the first alumnus of Gonville and Caius to endow such a Fellowship.