Professor Jon Watson is a gastroenterologist. He attended Cambridge University for his undergraduate degrees in Medicine (BA and MA in Medical Sciences), and Oxford University for his clinical studies (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery). He trained as a physician and gastroenterologist in Oxford, London and Newcastle upon Tyne. Whilst working in Newcastle upon Tyne, he was awarded a PhD for studies into Hepatitis C Virus infection and liver disease. He was awarded the European Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training (CCST) in 1998. He then migrated to Australia, with his family. He has practised, researched and taught in a number of centres in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia.

He has maintained an active research interest in a variety of gastroenterological sub-specialties, and he has published in peer reviewed journals, presented at national and international meetings for the last 20 years, and has been Meeting Organiser twice for the Australian Gastroenterology Society's annual meeting.

He has a longstanding interest in medical education, and previously served as Dean of Medicine at Deakin University, Victoria, and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at The University of Western Australia. In 2014, he completed a Graduate Certificate in Medical Education with the University of Dundee Medical School, Scotland. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London and a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and was appointed in 2012 to the National Examining Panel of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

He has served as a Board Director for Kardinia Health Geelong, the QEII Medical Centre Trust, WA, and the Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria, and has served as Board Chair of the National Centre for Farmer Health in Hamilton, Victoria.