Dott was born in Edinburgh and educated at George Heriot's School there. Originally apprenticed as a joiner and engineer, he suffered a serious hip injury in an accident, and the observation of medical practice during his hospitalisation determined his future career and he entered Edinburgh University Medical School in 1914. Awarded the Syme Surgical Fellowship in 1921, he worked with Sir Edward Sharpey-Schafer, and his studies on the pituitary led to the award of a Rockefeller Fellowship which enabled him to work as Assistant Resident to Harvey Cushing at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, 1923-1924. With the exception of this year and a brief visit to Cushing in 1929, Dott remained in Edinburgh throughout his career. He did much to establish surgical neurology there and in 1947 became the first Professor of Surgical Neurology at the University. He was a founder member of the Society of British Neurologists in 1926, and its President, 1938-1945. During the Second Worl! d War he served with H.W.B. Cairns, Geoffrey Jefferson and others on the Brain Injuries Committee of the Medical Research Council. He lectured widely on his specialist subjects such as aneurysms, pain, pituitary and also on medical education, hospital planning and staffing, the history of medicine (mainly in relation to his own interests), and more informally on his own experiences and colleagues.