David Cuthbertson was born in
Kilmarnock the son of John Cuthbertson
FRSE (1859–1933) a teacher in the fields of both mining and agriculture. David was educated at
Kilmarnock Academy. He served in the
Royal Scots Fusiliers during the
First World War. This delayed his education and he then studied medicine at
Glasgow University graduating MB ChB in 1926. Cuthbertson served on several research and scientific committees, including secondment to the
Medical Research Council in 1943, and served as vice-president of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1959 to 1960. In his early research, in 1936, Cuthbertson observed a loss of nitrogen (urea) in fracture patients, later referred to as
surgical stress. In this he was assisted by
Hamish Munro. He was Director of the
Rowett Research Institute from 1945 to 1965. He was awarded several honorary doctorates: DSc from
Rutgers University; LLD from
Glasgow University; LLD from
Aberdeen University; and Dhc from
Zagreb University. In 1949 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were
James Norman Davidson,
Robert Garry,
Ernest Cruickshank, and
Donald McArthur. He served as the Society's vice president from 1959 to 1960. He died on 15 April 1989, in
Troon in
Ayrshire. ==Family==