Professor Jamieson graduated from the University of Adelaide Medical School and obtained his Australasian Fellowship in the College of Surgeons in 1971. He then undertook further surgical training in the United Kingdom and the United States of America before returning to Adelaide as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Surgery in 1975. He was appointed to the Dorothy Mortlock Chair in Surgery at the University of Adelaide in 1982, a position he held until 2012. His clinical and research interests are concentrated in the area of upper gastrointestinal surgery, with specific interests in upper gastrointestinal motility and surgery of the oesophagus. His other interests include music, wine and old English glass (collects the glass to drink the wine while listening to the music). He has a small farm, on which he developed a vineyard, and he has a degree in winemaking.