Roy Sessions M.D., was raised in the New Orleans area, where he completed medical school in 1962. He then interned in San Francisco. In 1963, Dr. Sessions entered the U.S. Navy at Oakland Naval Hospital. After two years active duty, he entered general surgery and completed an Otolaryngology residency program at Washington University School of Medicine, Barnes Hospital, in St. Louis, Mo, in 1969.

Dr. Sessions next joined the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, where he served in the Department of Otolaryngology as Vice-Chairman and coordinator of residency training until 1981. He then became a Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, in New York City.

In 1988, Dr. Sessions became Professor and Chair of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington DC. He held that position until 1998, when he became co-director of the Beth Israel Institute for Head and Neck Cancer, Chairman of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Interim Director of the Beth Israel Cancer Center, in New York City. After serving for 10 years in those roles, he retired to the Charleston Area.

During his academic career, Dr. Sessions served in many national leadership roles, including the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Oto-HNS. He belongs to numerous academic societies, including the Triologic Society, AAFPRS, the American Laryngologic Society, the American Bronchoesophalogical Society, the American College of Surgery, the Society of Surgical Oncology, the American Thyroid Society, and the American Society of Head and Neck Surgery. He has served as a national spokesperson for the American Academy of Oto-HNS in the campaign against tobacco products, testifying before several House and Senate congressional committees on national television.

Dr. Sessions has been on several editorial boards and has authored more than 140 scientific publications, including three editions of a major textbook. In 2000, that text, Head and Neck Cancer; a Multidisciplinary Approach by Harrison, Sessions, and Hong, was given the Doody International Scientific Book of the Year award.