Dr. Cameron was born in Bridge of Allen, Scotland, and received an M.B. (1924) and M.D. (1936) from the University of Glasgow. His psychiatric experience began at the Royal Glasgow Hospital, and by 1926, he was at the Phipps Clinic in Baltimore for two years, holding the Henderson Research Scholarship. He then spent one year at the hospital in Switzerland (1929–36) and worked at various units of the Provincial Mental Hospital in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.
He came to the U.S. again to work at the State Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts (1936–38) and then moved to the Albany Medical School as Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology. In 1943, he returned to Canada as Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University. He served as psychiatrist-in-chief at the Royal Victoria Hospital and director of the Allen Memorial Institute of Psychiatry. Dr. Cameron has published several books and more than 125 papers on a wide range of psychiatric subjects, from biological to cultural to social psychiatry.
Dr. Cameron served as President of the American Psychiatric Association (1952–53).