John Hancock (venereologist)

John Arthur Harland Hancock (1923 – 7 June 1974) was a British venereologist and editor of the British Journal of Venereal Diseases who wrote on non-gonococcal urethritis and reactive arthritis, what was known as Reiter's disease at the time. In 1945, while studying medicine at the London Hospital, he was one of the voluntary students sent to Belsen to assist nutritionist Arnold Peter Meiklejohn in feeding the starving inmates. There, he became unwell with typhus and was treated back at The London by Lord Evans.

Following his recovery, he completed his medical studies and gained his medical degree in 1948. Subsequently, he began a career in dermatology, first as a house officer to the dermatology department and then with his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, becoming officer-in-charge of the dermatology department at the Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot and later in a post of Acting Adviser in dermatology to the War Office. Later, he pursued a career in venereology.