William Clifford Roberts graduated from Southern Methodist University, USA, in 1954 and Emory University School of Medicine, USA, in 1958. He did his training in internal medicine at the Boston City Hospital and at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, before holding a one-year fellowship in cardiology at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, USA. He did his training in anatomic pathology at the National Institutes of Health (1959–1962). From July 1964 to March 1993, he was Chief of Pathology in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, affiliated with the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. He is the author of over 1700 publications and has lectured in over 2200 cities across the world.