Mr Murphy graduated from medical school in 1992 and began his surgical training in the same year. In 1996 he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, having completed his general surgical training. He then trained in plastic surgery, working in prestigious units in the UK (Oxford, Salisbury, Stoke Mandeville and London) and in the USA and Australasia.
In 2001 he was awarded the higher postgraduate degree of Master of Surgery (ChM) for research at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Buckinghamshire. He was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Plastic Surgery, (FRCS (Plast)) in 2002.