Robert Cochrane Buist was born in Dundee and studied at the Universities of St. Andrews, Cambridge and Edinburgh, at each of which he had a distinguished academic career. After serving as assistant physician at the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, Dr Buist was appointed lecturer in Clinical Midwifery and Gynaecology at University College, Dundee, in 1901, a post he held until his retirement in 1925. He was secretary of the Dundee Branch of the British Medical Association from 1894.
From the guide to the Robert Cochrane Buist, Lecturer in Midwifery and Gynaecology, University College, Dundee, c 1859-1937, (University of Dundee)