Mary attended veterinary school in Melbourne, Australia. She worked in small animal practice in San Diego, California for several years before completing a small animal rotating internship at BluePearl in Virginia Beach. From there, she obtained a zoo internship at Assiniboine Park Zoo in Manitoba, Canada followed by a zoological residency at the Zoological Society of London in the UK. Upon completing the residency, she returned to the US. She has worked as an associate veterinarian at Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas and Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida, as well as a relief veterinarian at Toronto Zoo in Ontario, Canada. She is currently the head veterinarian at Virginia Zoo. Her published research includes investigations on infectious diseases in stranded cetaceans and captive primates, artiodactyls, and birds, as well as bite wound management in ring-tailed lemurs. Throughout her veterinary career, she has participated in a variety of research projects on free-ranging wildlife including assessing seal health in Victoria, Australia; surveilling for Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans in Virginia; performing black-footed ferret health assessments in western Kansas; and performing hyena and jackal health assessments in Lüderitz, Namibia and Etosha National Park, Namibia.