John Mitrofanis gained his PhD at the University of Sydney in 1990. He then won a Fellowship from the Royal Society (UK) to work in Oxford. In 1993, he was sent back to the Department of Anatomy, University of Sydney as a free man. To this day, he remains free. He was the foundation Professor of Anatomy at the ANU Medical School (2005-2008) and the Associate Dean (Curriculum) at the Sydney Medical School (2007-2012). 

He is currently Professor of Anatomy at Sydney Medical School. Throughout his career he has been a very active teacher of topographical anatomy and neuroanatomy to medical and science students and has run a research programme on various aspects of brain organisation. In particular, his research has examined the structure and patterns of connectivity in the adult and developing thalamus, cortex and brainstem and, in more recent years, he has explored different methods that improve the function and survival of neurones in Parkinson’s disease.