Rachael is Professor of Health and Anthropology and Director of the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research. As Director of the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute, Rachael is committed to support of interdisciplinary and cross-Faculty research with focus on areas of strategic importance and growth potential. These include interdisciplinary networks and initiatives that span the University with academic leadership based in University Faculties. In 2020-22 the Institute has provided support for research into COVID-19 at the University.

Alongside her Directorship of the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute, within the University of Bristol, Rachael currently works on the University Research Committee, the Global Challenges Steering Group, the Digital Health Strategy Group, the Board of ALSPAC ('Children of the nineties'), and the Steering Group of the Population Health Specialist Research Institute. Rachael also leads the Qualitative Research Network in Bristol's NIHR-supported Biomedical Research Centre. Until February 2022 she was a member of the University's Ethics of Research Committee.

In her own research, Rachael is a Social Anthropologist by background who applies techniques from anthropology and qualitative approaches in applied health research. Rachael works within strongly interdisciplinary teams, which includes those delivering research in the UK and in partnerships and global contexts. Interests include long-term painful conditions, implementation science, technology for health, clinical decision-making and public involvement in research.

Among the grants on which Rachael has been a principal or co-applicant include those from the UK’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the Wellcome Trust, Versus Arthritis, the Medical Research Council (MRC), and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Rachael’s PhD (1999, Edinburgh) and MA (1991, St Andrews) were both in Social Anthropology. She is currently a Trustee of the Bristol Collegiate Research Society and a member of the Development Board for Equality and Diversity in Science (EDIS). She was previously a member of Council of the Royal Anthropological Institute; Networks Officer of the Association of the Social Anthropologists; and Treasurer and a Trustee of the European Association of Social Anthropologists. Rachael is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and was formerly external examiner for Durham University's MSc in Medical Anthropology. She provides supervision to research students and delivers training in research methods and writing. Rachael also works as a peer-reviewer for funding applications and serves on funding panels.

In 2014 Rachael's group achieved a University Engagement Award for their work in patient involvement in research, and in 2016 her team won a special prize for their animated film about patient engagement in the NIHR's New Media competition. Also in 2016 she led a team within the SPHERE Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration into a finalist position in Health and Wellbeing category of the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Involvement's Engage Competition. In 2016 Rachael was given the British Pain Society Medal. Rachael leads the STAR Programme of Research, a national programme to improve treatment for long-term pain after knee replacement, which has recently published findings indicating that the new STAR care pathway is clinically and cost-effective. She also leads and collaborates in numerous other multidisciplinary projects and streams of research including those using mixed methods and ethnographic approaches and with national and international partnerships. 

Rachael's University education was in Scotland, she spent her childhood in Saddleworth in North West England, spent some of her teenage years in Ireland, and has lived in South West England since 1999.

Rachael is co-Chair of the UK Committee on Research Integrity (UK CORI). UK CORI is an independent committee, first recommended by the previous House of Commons Science and Technology Committee in their 2018 report.