BSc Durham 1962, MB BS 1965, MD 1971.
Fox was educated at Durham Medical School and held junior positions at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle. From 1967 he was registrar, later senior registrar, and lecturer at the Royal Free Hospital, London. In 1971 Fox went to California on a MRC Research Scholarship and in 1973 was appointed assistant professor at the Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, and also consultant in internal medicine and gastroenterology at Camp Hill Hospital, Halifax. In 1980 Fox was appointed to the newly established chair of geriatric medicine at the University of Manchester.