Nick Bouras was born in Patras where he completed his school years. Nicandros (as he is known in Greece) graduated from Athens Medical School in 1968. He served at the Hellenic Air Force and worked his mandatory medical service for a year in Patras General Hospital. He then trained in Neurology and Psychiatry in Athens at the Eginition University Hospital.

In 1974 he moved to England and worked in St. John’s Hospital in Stone Aylesbury, Warnford Hospital Oxford and Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. He joined the Academic Department of Psychiatry at Guy’s Hospital Medical School in October 1975. He was awarded a PhD of University of London in 1979. Nick was appointed consultant psychiatrist by the then Guy’s Health Authority and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the United Medical and Dental Schools. He was made to a Professor of Psychiatry in 1999 at the Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ Medical School. From 1982 to 2008 he was Consultant Psychiatrist for the South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and from 1999 to 2008 he held a Chair in Psychiatry at the Health Service and Population Research Department, at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. He is currently a Professor (emeritus) of Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London and Director of Maudsley International.

Most of his clinical work has been in community mental health. He was involved with the development of the first Community Mental Health Centre in England from 1978 to 1981 in South East London. From 1982 to 1990 he led several deinstitutionalisation programmes for people with mental illness and in 1985 pioneered the development of community based specialist mental health services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

His research interests have focused on health service research and population studies including evaluation of clinical effectiveness of mental health interventions, quality of life and bio-psychosocial determinants of behaviour. In addition he has been greatly involved in training psychiatrists and multidisciplinary staff by leading various initiatives and projects. He has published widely including research and scientific papers, review articles, chapters in books and edited or written several books on mental health aspects. A number of his publications have been translated to Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese and Chinese. He has also published in his native language Greek.

He was made Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1993 and held executive positions in numerous Local, National and International organisations, including the Royal Society of Medicine, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, World Psychiatric Association and others.

In addition he has been an active participant in the activities of several Greek Societies in London including the Association of Greek University Teachers in Europe, the Society of Greek Studies (ELEMEP), the Hellenic Cultural Centre, the Hellenic Foundation and the Greek Forum of London. He was invited to join in the inaugural group for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece, the Hellenic Medical Society in UK and was the founder of the World Hellenic Bio-Medical Association.

Nick is married to Maria, an architect and town planner, and has two daughters Christina a history teacher and Irene an anaesthetist.