Newman qualified with an MRCS and LRCP in 1927, having completed his clinical years at Kings College Hospital in London.
He gained a Diploma in Public Health (DPH) in 1931 and a MD Cantab in 1933; his thesis, later published as an article, was on the thyroid and intellectual disability.
[3] During World War II he was medical officer in charge of mobile first aid posts in Warwickshire and for ambulance services in Coventry.
[3] He wrote on various aspects of his public health work, including a study of the incidence of impetigo in Southampton and an outbreak of infectious hepatitis in the Lavant Valley.
[7] This brought him into conflict with Dr George McCall Smith, the medical superintendent of the Rawene Hospital in the Hokianga, who demanded widespread closure of schools and shops.
[8][9] Newman resigned as medical officer of health in 1949 citing difficulties with the bureaucracy of government which hampered the work of the district health offices, the Official Secrets Act which prevented relevant information being used for the education of the public, and the lack of recognition in the public service of professional qualifications and experience.
[15] Calling on the examples he had seen in Britain, Europe and the United States he firmly advocated for better housing and the importance of social contact for the elderly.
In Zürich, Oslo, London and San Francisco he visited a number of clubs for older people which reduced social isolation.
"[17] He considered that one housing option for the elderly might be achieved by redeveloping central city areas to provide high-rise buildings of several storeys where older people could live close to ordinary life.
[17] He visited Sturminster Newton in England where in the 1960s the local council had provided a high proportion of retirement dwellings in relation to the whole population.