During this time he ran, in partnership with his surgical colleague Ian Aird, a highly acclaimed lecture and tutorial course to prepare candidates for the Fellowship examination.

On return to Edinburgh he was appointed Surgeon to the Western General Hospital and in 1946 he was instrumental in founding the combined medical and surgical Gastrointestinal Unit in partnership with Dr Wilfred Card.

Combined care was particularly applicable to two common gastrointestinal problems of the day, peptic ulcer and inflammatory bowel disease.

[1] In 1955 he was the driving force behind the founding of the Journal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh a publication which he continued to edit until his death.

[4] He was appointed to the Regius Chair of Clinical Surgery at the University of Edinburgh in 1956, in succession to Sir James Learmonth.

With Ian Aird and Dr William Hinton of New York he jointly founded The James IV Association of Surgeons and served as its President.