Elizabeth Ness MacBean Ross was born on 14th February 1878, in London, the daughter of Donald Alexander MacBean Ross and Elizabeth Wilson Ross. She grew up in Tain. In 1896 she went to Glasgow to study medicine at Queen Margaret College. She graduated in 1901.

Her first post was in the East Ham area of London, followed by a spell in Colonsay. She then went to Persia. Apart from a trip to Japan, working as a ship's doctor, she worked in Persia until the outbreak of the First World War.

She volunteered to serve in Serbia at the fever hospital in Kragujevac. There she , with two Greek doctors and no trained nursing staff. There she contracted typhus. She died on her 37th birthday, 14th February 1915.

The following obituary appeared in the Glasgow University Magazine of 1915;

"Of brilliant intellectual attainments, and exceptional originality, Dr Ross was a personality seldom to be met with. Careless of conventions, yet at the same time giving evidence of refinement and culture of upbringing, she was slow to make friends but once made, she was loyal and steadfast in her friendships, once made never broken, she was much beloved by those who knew her well. Numerous literary articles have appeared from her fluent pen. Her outstanding quality was courage in the face of any danger, and although possessed of a frail and delicate physique, she would enter where even a man might hesitate, in the enthusiasm for her work. It was the great power and influence of her mind which led to heights which others only dreamt of from afar. Her sister, Dr Lucy Ross, and her brother, a naval surgeon, shared her studies and interests."