Charles Brooks Brigham was born in Boston, MA, January 17, 1845. In 1892 he graduated from the Boston Latin School, and proceeded to Harvard University, where he received his B.A in 1866, and his medical degree, March 19, 1870. While a medical student he received the first prize of the Boylston Medical Society (1868) for a paper, "Diabetes mellitus."

Shortly after graduation Dr. Brigham went to France, where he served as a volunteer,serving as chief of the École Forestiére ambulance corps at Nancy, and was the protege of Baron Hippolyte Larrey, chairman of the Sanitary Commission of the French army. Through the influence of the latter Dr. Brigham was awarded the rank of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He was also named to the German Imperial Crown Order.

Dr. Brigham was appointed professor of orthopedic and military surgery and curator of the museum at UCSF in 1873, but held the appointment only until 1874. He was also surgeon at French Hospital. In 1872 he published Quelques observations chirurgicales, and an English translation, Surgical Cases, with Illustrations, followed in 1876. In 1898, in St.Lukes Hospital, assisted by Robert Langley Porter, Dr. Brigham performed the first (in the United States, second in the world) total excision of the stomach for cancer.