[1] Little is known of his schooling but he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating MD in 1816 with an essay entitled Disputatio inauguralis de vitiis variis genu, quaedam pathologica complectens (An essay on various conditions of the knee including pathology).

[2] He went on to qualify as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in July 1825 with a probationary essay on infanticide.

He was active in the affairs of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh acting as an examiner and serving as honorary secretary from 1861-1873.

[4] In 1831 Simson was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh and served as President in 1841.

Simson died at 3 Glenfinlas Street, his final Edinburgh home, on 8 March 1876.