Professor Mary has extensive experience of being a board member: health care providers, professional bodies, charities and education academy trusts. She has considerable research experience and has led several European, national, and local projects associated with workforce improvements, and education developments for the allied health and wider non-medical workforce. She has a particular interest and expertise in clinical leadership and in the impact of education and training of AHPs, and the associated benefits for users of the service. 

From 2011 – 2026 She co-directed Allied Health Solutions, a small company that promotes enterprise, innovation and partnership. In this role she was academic advisor to the RePAIR (Reducing Pre-registration Attrition and Improving Retention) programme.  Recommendation 12 of RePAIR was that healthcare providers should review their preceptorship programmes, ideally in partnership with HEIs, to improve recruitment and retention of their newly qualified staff and ensure the preceptors are appropriately trained.

Mary was the AHP clinical lead for the development of the National Multiprofessional Preceptorship Quality Mark.