Professor Sir Michael Adrian Richards, CBE, MD, DSc (Hon), FRCP (born 14 July 1951) is a British oncologist. From 1999 to 2013 he was the National Cancer Director in the UK Government's Department of Health. He was appointed to be the Chief Inspector of Hospitals in the Care Quality Commission on 31 May 2013. and was said by the Health Service Journal to be the third most powerful person in the English NHS in December 2013.