Dr. Noyes was born near Enfield, New Hampshire, and received his M.D. (1906) from the University of Pennsylvania. He interned at City Hospital in New York City and then entered into general practice in Western New York and Connecticut for eight years. He returned to Philadelphia for a year in internal medicine and neurology in a private clinic and moved on to spend four years at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital as an assistant physician and chief executive officer.
In 1920, Dr. Noyes received an appointment at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., under Dr. William A. White. After nine years, he moved to Rhode Island as Superintendent of the State Mental Hospital, and in 1936, he became Superintendent of Norristown State Hospital, where he remained for 20 years.
Dr. Noyes published his book, Modern Clinical Psychiatry, in 1934, which had six editions, as well as a textbook on psychiatric nursing, which had five editions. He was a past president of the Philadelphia Psychiatric Society and the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society, an active member of the APA serving on many committees, and an examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology for many years.
Dr. Noyes served as President of the American Psychiatric Association (1954–55).