MB ChB Manch 1952, MD 1962, DSc 1978; FRCP Lond 1985; FRCPath 1974.
Gunson was born in Cumberland on 5 July 1929 and was educated at Burnley Grammar School and the University of Manchester. After graduating, Gunson was appointed house surgeon at MRI in the departments of haematology and rheumatism before being appointed resident clinical pathologist in 1953. Gunson was research fellow at the rheumatology laboratory at the University of Manitoba before being appointed senior hospital medical officer to the National Blood Transfusion Service in Manchester. He was then in charge of the Lancaster Blood Transfusion Centre before being appointed director of the Oxford Regional Transfusion Service and later of the North West Regional Transfusion Service. Gunson was then appointed national medical director of the National Blood Transfusion Service. He was awarded the CBE. Gunson was also a reader in human serology at the University of Manchester. Gunson retired in the 1990s.