[1] His father, a Russian Jewish émigré, Barnet Isaac Gamsu, was a businessman.
[1] He attended Windhoek High School, and then studied at the University of Witwatersrand, graduating in 1954.
[2] He continued training in paediatrics at the University of Sheffield and Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital.
[2] In 1965 he obtained a position as Wates Fellow at King's College Hospital, and was Reader in Neonatal Paediatrics and Director of the Regional Neonatal Unit there from 1979, and Professor of Neonatology from 1994.
[2] He served as honorary secretary of the British Association of Perinatal Medicine from 1980 to 1983.