MB ChB Manch 1960, MD 1965; DCH Eng 1964; MRCPath 1981.
Barson was born on 19 October 1936. He studied at University of Manchester before taking up house positions at MRI and Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. He was assistant pathologist to the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto before being appointed honorary consultant paediatric pathologist for United Manchester Hospitals and Senior Lecturer in Pathology at the University of Manchester. He was appointed reader in 1994. The research of Barson was particularly concerned with congenital malformations in infants, especially spina bifida. Barson was a fellow of Manchester Medical Society and was honorary secretary of the Pathology Section from 1974 to 1979 and president of the section from 1984 to 1985. He was also a member of the British Paediatrics Association.