[1] Diamond was born on May 11, 1902 in Kishinev, then part of the Bessarabia Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Chişinău, Moldova).
Shortly after finishing medical school, Diamond studied briefly with Florence Sabin at the Rockefeller Institute before returning to New England, where he spent several years studying pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital under the guidance of Dr. Kenneth Blackfan.
Diamond set up one of the first pediatric hematology research centers in the United States at Children's.
He received the John Howland Award, the highest honor bestowed by the American Pediatric Society (APS).
His son Jared Diamond is a popular science writer and Professor of Geography at UCLA.