Prof John Williams trained at Cambridge University and St Thomas’ Hospital, London, qualifying in 1970. Following house officer posts in Reading and London, he trained as a specialist in general medicine and gastroenterology in London, and at the Royal Naval Hospitals at Plymouth and Haslar. He moved to Swansea in 1988 to set up the Postgraduate Medical School and develop a gastroenterology service for Neath and Port Talbot.

He retired from NHS practice in 2012 but still holds an Emeritus Chair in Health Services Research in Swansea University Medical School and an honorary consultant post with Swansea Bay University Health Board. He has expertise in the broad spectrum of gut and liver disorders. His main clinical and research interests include acid peptic disorders, inflammatory bowel disease and functional gut disorders and he has published over 200 peer reviewed research papers. He was awarded a CBE for services to medicine in the 2014 New Year honours.