[6] Coat's first career position as a physician was as an assistant to William Tennant Gairdner at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

[2] He subsequently moved to University of Leipzig, to work with German physiologist Carl Ludwig and learn experimental physiology.

[2] Upon his appointment to the Royal, he took at trip to Germany to train with German pathologist Eduard von Rindfleisch at the University of Würzburg.

[1] He also ensured the infirmary pathological museum was added to with new specimen's and this work led to him compiling and publishing the first catalogue of the collection in 1872.

[1] During that period, he also acted in capacity of the dispensary physician and spent significant time studying the diseases of the throat, to enable him to open a GP surgery to earn extra money.

[1] From 1877 he became an independent lecturer, as opposed to working at an assistant to a senior physician, when he started to teach practical pathology to four students.

Coats found this both galling and irksome, as McKendrick never held a single lecture on pathology, instead focusing his time only on physiology.

[1] Coats was appointed editor of the Glasgow Medical Journal on 28 November 1877, at the time it was changing from a quarterly to a monthly publication.