Graham is Director of Research at The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute (THIS Institute), a unit at the University of Cambridge funded primarily by the Health Foundation to develop the evidence base for improving healthcare quality and safety.
He has over 20 years’ experience in leading research that uses social scientific methods and theory to improve understanding of organisational change in the healthcare system. Besides its contribution to the academic evidence base, Graham’s research is also highly practically relevant, and he regularly presents findings to policy and practice audiences in and around the NHS. Graham’s leadership experience includes working as a trustee for the Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness, three years as head of a university department, and chairing the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine’s Athena Swan self-assessment team, overseeing efforts to enhance gender equality across the school.
Graham has a degree in Geography from Oxford University, an MSc in Society and Space from the University of Bristol, and a PhD in social policy from the University of Nottingham. He was previously Professor of Health Organisation and Policy at the University of Leicester, acting as Head of Department of Health Sciences from 2015 to 2018, and prior to that held research posts at Nottingham and Leicester.