James Dawson started his medical training at the University of Edinburgh in 1888, but had to interrupt his studies due to tuberculosis.
He spent 13 years overseas, mainly in India, the United States, Canada and New Zealand, and worked as a lumberjack and sheep farmer during that time.
He was unable to serve in World War I due to ill health, so taught pathology at the University of Edinburgh.
[1] He declined a number of appointments, again due to ill health, and continued working as a histologist in the laboratory at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh.
He produced publications including work on multiple neuromata of the central nervous system, generalised osteitis fibrosa, melanomata and syringomyelia.