Charles Read was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia and went on to medical school at McGill University. He was a Surgeon Lieutenant for the Royal Canadian Navy and then went on to residency training at the Children’s Memorial Hospital and became a Medical Fellow, Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. During this time, he was a also a Medical Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University.  He then moved to Winnipeg to be an Associate Professor at the Children’s Hospital there. In 1954, he moved again to Iowa City and now, at the age of 93, is an Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.