Gilbert was born at Tarkwa, a mining town in the Western region of Ghana but completed his primary and secondary education at boarding schools in the capital, Accra, where he developed a love for reading.

He graduated with a BSc (Hons) degree in Biochemistry at the University of Ghana and was awarded a scholarship for postgraduate studies in the UK where he obtained a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Leeds. He subsequently moved to the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg in 1982 to pursue an academic career, ultimately rising to the rank of Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics in the Faculty of Medicine.

Gilbert always dreamt of writing stories but unfortunately this had to be put off for decades because even though he wrote a lot during his academic career, there was no time to indulge in writing fiction.