Robert E. Dawson graduated from Clark College with honors in 1939 and from Meharry Medical College with honors in 1943. He spent three years in residency training at Homer G. Philips in St. Louis, Missouri, as a resident in ophthalmology and ear, nose and throat surgery. He moved to Durham in 1946 as the first African American EENT surgeon at Lincoln Hospital. He worked with Dr. Banks Anderson, Sr., chair of ophthalmology at Duke Hospital who provided Dr. Dawson with a year-long fellowship that enabled him to qualify for his specialty boards in EENT. For many years, Dr. Dawson taught Duke residents in his private office in Durham, at Lincoln Hospital and in the clinic and operating rooms at Duke Hospital.