Terence Kealey graduated in medicine from St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, London University, in 1975. He then specialised in biomedical research, achieving his DPhil (PhD) from the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Oxford University, in 1982. 

His biomedical research has focussed on the cell biology of human skin. He has also studied the economics of science and higher education. His 1996 book The Economic Laws of Scientific Research argues that, contrary to myth, there is no market failure in science, and that it can be entrusted safely to the free market. His latest book, Sex, Science and Profits, will be published in 2008.

He was appointed Vice-Chancellor the University of Buckingham in 2001. He writes occasionally for The Times and other national broadsheets.