A native of Aberdeen, Doris graduated BSc there in 1906, and went on to study abroad. Two years later she came to teach at University College Dundee, working closely with Professor D’Arcy Thomson. She gained a reputation as a brilliant lecturer and Protozoologist and by 1912 she had gained her DSc. When D’Arcy Thomson left in 1917 she ran the department for the next two years. She then went to London and was appointed Professor of Zoology at King’s College in succession to Julian Huxley. She published extensively on parasites in insects. It was from her war work that she branched out to study amoebic dysentery. In 1927 Doris was awarded a Professorship. She eventually retired in 1949. She was possibly the first female British professor, and certainly the only female professor of zoology in her time