He was born on 28 December 1900 in
Montrose in north-east Scotland the son of Joseph Calder Cameron. His early education was at
Montrose Academy. He then studied medicine at
Edinburgh University graduating in 1923. After briefly serving as a junior doctor at both Edenhall and Highbury Hospitals in England He returned to Edinburgh to lecture in Physiology (under Prof
Edward Sharpey Schafer) at the university from 1926 to 1939, being granted an MD in 1932 following his thesis on renal function, which won the gold medal for the year. In 1928 he was elected a member of the
Harveian Society of Edinburgh. In 1933 he was appointed as Consultant physician to the
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and held this role for over 30 years. and honorary consultant to the India and Burma Offices by 1946. These services led to his being awarded a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire in that year. He was elected a member of the
Aesculapian Club in 1961. He was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1963 and
knighted in June 1965. Following retiral from Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, from 1965 to 1965 he was both Professor and Director of the Institute of Post Graduate Medicine in
Dacca,
Pakistan. A sum of £5000 was left to the college by Sir James Cameron to form a fund, called the
Sir James Cameron Medal, the interest to be used to assist in financing the St Andrew's Day Festival for educational purposes. He died of a heart attack during his chairing of a meeting of the
Edinburgh Medical Library on 13 February 1969. ==Family==