Professor John Ormiston (ONZM) (Sargood 1961-1964 and Williams 1965) worked as one of New Zealand's leading interventional cardiologists. He will be St Paul's Collegiate School's first Collegian Awardee, celebrated at an inaugural awards dinner in November.

John grew up near Raglan and attended primary school in Te Uku before arriving at St Paul's as a boarder in 1961 when the school was in its second year of infancy and Sargood had just opened. He excelled scholastically while in high school; when Williams House opened in 1963, it needed an injection of seniors and leadership, and John was chosen to be the Head of Williams House in his final year.

When he left St Paul's, he decided to do a gap year which was encouraged by the headmaster at the time, Mr Reg Hornsby. John says, "I spent a year doing a voluntary service in a remote village in Fiji and taught English." 

John thought he would be a vet, a natural idea for a country kid; he studied at Massey University for a year. "At the end of the year, I decided I would apply for medical school and got in, so I went to Otago Medical School." He finished as the top student in his year.

Once he graduated, and after time in Wellington and then the United States on a National Heart Foundation Scholarship, John arrived at Greenlane Hospital in Auckland, which was, at the time, a leading heart hospital.

His work there alongside renowned heart surgeon Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes was pivotal in his career. "Sir Brian was legendary and a superhero who did amazing work. I saw a lot of him and looked after some of his patients."

John became a consultant as part of a team pioneering inflated balloons in narrow arteries to unblock them. "Since that time, there have been enormous developments in the field of cardiology using stents which greatly improved the outcome of these procedures."

Throughout his career, John researched and tested dissolvable stents while starting a large private practice, Mercy Angiography in Epsom, the country's busiest private cardiac facility, and worked at Auckland City Hospital.

During his career, Professor Ormiston had the privilege of operating on his high school biology teacher and housemaster, Pat Plant (1961 – 1998). Pat says, "I told him, just before the operation, that I hoped I had taught him biology well enough." It was a proud moment for Pat to have his heart taken care of by one of his star students.

Pat wasn't the only St Paul's heart to come into Professor Ormiston's theatre. Headmaster Grant Lander (2010 – 2021) also received the surgeon's skilled work of an inserted stent.

In addition to helping others, John had a focus on family. He married Diana Lennon, a professor in paediatrics, and they lived in Herne Bay with their family for more than 35 years. They have two sons and daughters-in-law and six grandchildren who all play an essential part in John's life. Diana sadly passed away in 2018 but is remembered with much love.

John's high standing in the field has been recognised more than once. In 2017 he travelled to Paris to be acknowledged as the first southern hemisphere recipient of an Ethica Award for outstanding contribution to cardiology. The award acknowledged his groundbreaking research, which has been extensively published in medical journals. 

He is internationally known for his bench testing of cardiological devices and introduced new techniques and technologies, including the world's first implantation of a fully bioresorbable drug-eluting stent, the first transcatheter aortic valve implantation in the Asia Pacific region and the first New Zealand renal denervation for hypertension.

Having seen the benefit of ongoing professional learning, John has generously supported staff at St Paul's Collegiate School by annually providing funding for professional development.

In 2011, John was recognised for his services to medicine and was awarded an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit (ONZM).

John will be acknowledged at the Collegians Awards Evening on 11 November 2023 at St Paul's Collegiate School. Ticket information can be found here.