John Werry


John Scott Werry was a New Zealand psychiatry academic. He was an emeritus professor at the University of Auckland.

Early life and family

Born in Christchurch on 30 January 1931, Werry was the son of Chase Cheneworth Werry and Edith Kathleen Werry. He grew up in Wyndham, Ashburton, and Dannevirke. He was educated at Ashburton High School and Dannevirke High School, where he was dux in 1948 and earned a university national scholarship.

Academic career

Werry studied at the University of Otago, graduating with a Bachelor of Medical Sciences degree in 1953, and MB ChB in 1955. He then worked in Montreal Children's Hospital and University of Illinois in North America before returning to New Zealand and the University of Auckland where he rose to emeritus professor. In 1974, Werry earned the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Otago, with a thesis titled Placebo, methylphenidate, haloperidol and imipramine in disturbed children : some methodological, experimental and clinical studies.
In July 2021, in the context of a review of the NCEA, Werry, along with six other University of Auckland professors and emeritus professors published a controversial letter "In Defence of Science" in the New Zealand Listener.
Werry died at Auckland Hospital on 26 July 2025, at the age of 94.

Honours and awards

In the 2009 New Year Honours, Werry was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to child and adolescent psychiatry. He was a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada.

Selected works