Richard Gilbertson trained as a paediatric oncologist in the UK, where he earned his MBBS and PhD degrees, becoming a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1995. He moved to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, USA, in 2000, where he served as the Co-Leader of the Neurobiology and Brain Tumour Programme and founding director of the Molecular Clinical Trials Core before being appointed as the Comprehensive Cancer Centre Director, Executive Vice President, and Lillian R Cannon Endowed Chair in 2011. In 2014, he was appointed as the Scientific Director of St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

In August 2015, he moved back home to England. He is a senior group leader at the CRUK Cambridge Institute, where his laboratory research is focused on understanding the link between normal development and the origins of cancer, particularly brain tumours.