I was born in Sydney in 1944 (of Jack and Gert) but have lived most of my life in Melbourne, in Greensborough as a child, and since 1983, in East Brunswick (with Jill). 

I started my career as a physician (internist) but in the late 1970s moved into health planning, health policy, health services research, and public health. After six years in the Victorian Health Department in the 1980s I went into academia, first at the ANU, and then at La Trobe University. My research interests have included political economy, comparative health systems, primary health care and international health policy. From 1996 to 2012 I was involved in teaching public health, health policy and health services management in Melbourne and in China (and researching the health challenges associated with China’s economic and political transition).

From 1994 I was active in the International People's Health Council which was one of eight founding organisations behind the birth of the People’s Health Movement in Savar in Bangladesh in December 2000. Since then, I have been active in a number of PHM programs including the International People’s Health University which is a short course program in the political economy of health for activists, and in PHM's Democratising Global Health Governance Initiative (WHO Watch). In recent years my main involvement has been curating the WHO Watch Tracker.