Born near Glasgow, in East Kilbride, Scotland, John Hunter studied anatomy and surgery in London, first at St. Bartholomew's Hospital under the direction of Percivall Pott, then at St. George's, where he spent twenty-five years as an instructor of anatomy and surgery. He also served as a surgeon with the British army during the Seven Years' War (1756-63).

Hunter is considered, with Ambroise Paré and Joseph Lister, one of the three greatest surgeons of all time. He is credited with having raised English surgery from a mere "technical trade" to its position as equal to other medical specialties. He rejected academic speculation and insisted on experimentation and direct observation. Hunter expressed this basic tenet in an often-quoted remark to his most famous student, Edward Jenner: "Don't think, try."

Aside from his research and teaching in anatomy and surgery, Hunter wrote important works on teeth (he coined the terms cuspids, bicuspids, molars, and incisors), sexually transmitted disease, and inflammation. A Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and Gun-shot Wounds, a compilation of Hunter's observations during the Seven Years' War, was published posthumously in 1794. The Natural History of Human Teeth, which is regarded as the first scientific basis for dentistry, was produced in 1778.