Michael R. Richards, MD, PhD, MPH, was part of the early admissions program at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, where he ultimately received his BS, MD, and MPH degrees. He then went on to complete his PhD in health economics at Yale University, which was immediately followed by a postdoctoral research position within the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School's Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.

After leaving Penn, he spent three years as an Assistant Professor within Vanderbilt University's Department of Health Policy before joining Baylor University's Department of Economics and Hankamer School of Business as an Associate and Full Professor. He is currently a Full Professor in the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University where he additionally leads the Sloan Program in Health Administration. He also holds a secondary appointment at the Weill Cornell Medical College.

Richards is an empirical health economist and has carried out a variety of studies on health policy topics. His primary research area involves healthcare provider responses to public policies and evolving market environments. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).