Richard completed his medical degree (1992) and PhD (1998) at Newcastle University, undertaking both MRC clinical training and research fellowships. In 2000 he moved to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, USA where he served as Scientific and Comprehensive Cancer Center Director, Executive Vice President and Lillian R Cannon Endowed Chair. In 2015, Richard was appointed to the Li Ka Shing Chair in Oncology at the University of Cambridge.

A paediatric oncology clinician scientist, Richard has pioneered the field of cross-species genomics, deploying data generated from patients to identify the lineage origins of childhood brain tumours; build accurate models of these cancers; and design new treatments. He has also generated organism-wide maps of cancer risk across all organs and ages, helping to understand the relative contributions of cell lineage, gene mutation and tissue damage to tumourigenesis.

Richard is a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (2013), Academy of Medical Sciences (2017), European Academy of Cancer Sciences (2017), and Royal College of Physicians (2020). In 2022 he was awarded the Memorial Sloan Kettering Society Prize.