Golubev was the thirteenth child in the family of Russian Orthodox archpriest Pavel who lived in the village of Parfenyevo in the Kologrivsky Uyezd of Kostroma Governorate.

He started his career as a medical doctor in a small district hospital at the Prosnitsa railroad station town (currently in Kirov Oblast).

He married Nina Vasilyevna, also a physician who later was awarded the title of Distinguished Medical Doctor of the Russian Federation.

After the end of World War II, he served about thirteen years in Germany and Poland as the Chief Surgeon of the Northern Group of the Soviet Army.

A marble memorial plaque honoring the Hero-surgeon Dmitry Pavlovich Golubev was installed on the outside wall of the hospital main building in 2007.