Charles Vincent trained as a clinical psychologist and has carried out research on the causes of harm to patients, the consequences for patients and staff, and methods of improving the safety of healthcare. He established the Clinical Risk Unit at University College in 1995, where he was a professor of psychology before moving to the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College in 2002. Charles is the editor of Clinical Risk Management (BMJ Publications, 2nd edition, 2001), author of Patient Safety (2nd edition 2010) and author of many papers on medical error, risk, and patient safety. He has advised on patient safety in many inquiries and committees, including the recent Berwick Review. In 2007 he was appointed director of the National Institute of Health Research Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality at Imperial College Healthcare Trust. In 2014 he took up a new post as Health Foundation Professorial Fellow in the Department of Psychology, University of Oxford. He has recently been appointed director of the Oxford Healthcare Improvement Centre, based in the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.