Tony Kendrick qualified in Medicine at St George's Hospital Medical School, London, in 1981. Following five years as a full-time GP in Surrey, he was awarded a national Mental Health Foundation Research Training Fellowship, completing his MD thesis at St George's on the care of people with long-term mental illness in general practice. He then became Senior Lecturer and then Reader in General Practice and Primary Care at St George's, while working as a half-time GP.

From 1998 to 2010 he was Professor and Head of the Department of Primary Medical Care at the School of Medicine, University of Southampton, where he carried out research into the care of depression, eating disorders, carers’ health, and bereavement. In 2001 he became Director of the Community Clinical Sciences Division of the School and in 2008 was appointed Associate Dean for Clinical Research for the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences. He led the development of the highly successful clinical academic training programme at Southampton from 2006 onwards, and in the 2008 national Research Assessment Exercise his group was ranked third highest in the UK for quality.