After graduating in Medicine from the University of Leeds in 1975, Roger Francis developed a major clinical and research interest in osteoporosis, whilst working as a member of the Clinical Scientific Staff at the MRC Mineral Metabolism Unit at Leeds General Infirmary. He was subsequently awarded a Smith and Nephew Travelling Fellowship, which allowed him to spend a year working on the cellular mechanisms of bone resorption in St. Louis, USA. On returning to the United Kingdom, he worked as Honorary Lecturer in Geriatric Medicine at University College, London, before moving to Newcastle in 1986. He is now a Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and Consultant Physician at Freeman Hospital.

Professor Francis runs a large Bone Clinic and supervises a research programme examining the pathogenesis, sequelae and treatment of osteoporosis in men and women. He is Chairman of Medical Board of the National Osteoporosis Society (NOS) and served as Editor of the NOS journal Osteoporosis Review from 2001-07. He is also a Committee Member of the British Geriatrics Society Falls and Bone Health Section and is Editor in Chief of Age and Ageing.