He has spent the majority of his career in the Department of Health Policy and Management at York University in Toronto.
More recently, he has written on the need for a socialist future as capitalism is not only creating numerous health problems but seems incapable of solving them.
[1][2] Raphael's extensive contributions to the field were recognized by his being promoted to full professor and being the recipient of the 2009–2010 York University Faculty of Health Dean's Award in the Research — Established Career Category.
In June 2019 he gave a keynote address at the 9th Nordic Health Promotion Research Conference in Roskilde, Denmark.
With Toba Bryant, Juha Mikkonen and Alexander Raphael he prepared the second edition of Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts which is available at http://thecanadianfacts.org The first version was downloaded 1,200,000 times and helped shift the discourse on health and its determinants in Canada.