Born in 1926 and graduating from Edinburgh in 1948, Lord Soulsby spent time in general practice before embarking on an academic career that included 14 years as Professor of Pathobiology at the University of Pennsylvania and culminated in Honorary Fellowships of the Royal Society of Medicine, the RCVS and the Royal College of Pathologists. He was ennobled in 1990 and in 2009 he received the JA Wight Memorial Award from the BSAVA.