The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh awarded him the Cullen Prize and appointed him a Gibson Lecturer.

[5] These intracellular particles were accepted into the literature of pathology, but subsequent studies have revealed that these are not specific to cancer, being also found in chronic inflammatory conditions and consist largely of immunoglobulins.

He later focussed on blood pressure, exploring the role of arterial constriction and peripheral resistance in hypertension.

His enthusiasm for the teaching standards of the extramural school of the Royal Colleges was such that he went so far as to describe it as 'the best training ground for professors and lecturers in the Empire'.

His friend and colleague Byrom Bramwell, who succeeded him in both the chair of medicine and as president of the RCPE described Russell, in an obituary as ‘somewhat egotistical at times .

She had attended Sophia Jex-Blake's School of Medicine for Women and qualified with the Triple Qualification of the Scottish Royal Colleges.

[10] During WW1 she worked in Edinburgh for the Scottish Women's Hospitals, which had been founded by her fellow student Elsie Inglis.

Their infant son Ivan died of tuberculosis during the epidemic of tuberculous mastitis which had a particularly high incidence in Edinburgh.