BA 1945; MB BChir Camb 1947, MD 1956; MRCPath 1963, FRCPath 1971.
Born in Allithwaite, Lancashire in 1924, Foster trained at Cambridge and St Thomas's Hospital and lectured at St Thomas's until 1960 when he was appointed consultant microbiologist at Dudley Road Hospital, Birmingham. From 1963 Foster was professor in medical microbiology at Makerere University College Kampala, until he was appointed reader in microbiology at King's College Hospital Medical School in 1967. From 1972 Foster was consultant microbiologist at Macclesfield Hospital. He was a member of Manchester Medical Society and of a number of pathological societies, including the Pathological Society of Great Britain.