Dr. David Murray Robertson graduated with an MD from Queen's University, Kingston, ON, in 1955 and was awarded the WW and Susan Near Prize for the second highest standing throughout the six year medical course. He trained in General Pathology at Kingston General Hospital and subsequently undertook fellowship training in research and diagnostic neuropathology at the National Hospital, Queen's Square in London, England and at Duke University Medical School, NC. He achieved FRCP (C) specialty qualification in General Pathology in 1960 and in Neuropathology in 1968. He eventually also became a Diplomat of the American Board of Pathology in both Anatomical Pathology and Neuropathology (1977).
In 1962, following completion of his neuropathology training at Duke, Dr. Robertson returned to Kingston to assume his first academic and hospital appointments as Assistant Professor of Pathology (Neuropathology) at Queen's University and as a Neuropathologist at Kingston General and Hotel Dieu Hospitals. He became an Associate Professor in 1967, Professor in 1969, and from 1979 to 1986, he was Head of the Department of Pathology at Queen's University. During his Headship, he held the concurrent appointment as Pathologist-in-Chief at Kingston General Hospital.
Dr. Robertson had a successful career as an academic neuropathologist. He published extensively, generating approximately 100 publications over the course of his career, and was recognized internationally for the quality of his research. In 1976, he receive the Weil Award in Experimental Neuropathology from the American Association of Neuropathologists, He was also a member of the Editorial Board of Laboratory Investigation, the pre-eminent experimental pathology journal, from 1970 to 1994 and he was its Associate Editor from 1972 to 1975.
Dr Robertson held numerous leadership positions in national and North American organizations. He was President of the Canadian Association of Neuropathologists (1971-73), President of the Intersociety Council of Laboratory Medicine of Canada (1973-74), President of the Canadian Association of Pathologists (1974-75), Vice President of the United States/Canadian Division of the International Academy of Pathology (1982-84) and President of the organization from 1984-85.
During his career, Dr. Robertson was responsible for establishing the Neuropathology Division in the Department of Pathology as a highly successful and internationally recognized academic unit. Following the completion of his Headship of the Department of Pathology in 1986, he became the Vice President (Medical) of Kingston General Hospital, a position he held from 1986 to 1992, and then completed a two year term as Medical Director of Kingston General Hospital. He subsequently acted as Special Advisor to the President of Kingston General Hospital. Since his retirement from the Department of Pathology, he has held the rank of Professor Emeritus.