Robert Dorsett studied Chinese at the Yale-in-China Program at the Chinese University in Hong Kong. He received an M.D. degree from the State University of New York and completed his training in pediatrics at Cornell. He also has an M.F.A. degree from New York University, where he subsequently taught creative writing. He has translated many individual poems and essays from the Chinese. With David Pollard, he translated the memoirs of Ertai Gao, In Search of My Homeland: A Memoir of a Chinese Labor Camp (HarperCollins 2009). Stagnant Water & Other Poems, by Wen Yiduo (BrightCity Books, 2014), is Robert’s second book of translations. His third, The Selected Poems of Ai Qing, with a forward by Ai Weiwei, has been recently published by Penguin/Random House, and simultaneously by Chatto & Windus as well as a Vintage Classic.

Robert Dorsett's work featured in Stand Magazine comprises one contribution of poetry.