Graduated in 1990 with a BA (Hons) in English and Psychology from Trinity College Dublin. Spent two years teaching English in the Czech Republic before embarking on a career in marketing in publishing, which included roles at Yale University Press, Thomson Science & Professional (formerly Chapman & Hall), Royal College of Psychiatrists, and Policy Press (University of Bristol). This was followed by ten years working as a Publications & Communications Manager for first the South West Public Health Observatory in Bristol and then Public Health England (now UK Health Security Agency).

I re-joined the University of Bristol as Communications Officer for the Centre for Academic Primary Care at Bristol Medical School in November 2016, and worked one day a week in a similar role for the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluation from February 2018 for four years.

I have a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Relations (Distinction) from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (2011).