Her chief research and clinical interests are in the biology and clinical management of brain tumours. She has published more than 120 peer-reviewed articles, many book chapters and is frequently invited to speak nationally and internationally. She has received more than $9,000,000 in grant funding.

She is the former chair of the Neuro-oncology Committee of the Victorian Cooperative Oncology Group for the Cancer Council Victoria and serves on the committees of a number of national cancer and brain tumour groups, including the Neuro-Oncology Committee of the Clinical Oncological Society of Australasia and the Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology. She supports community groups and charities advocating for patients with brain tumours and their families.

She is Neurosurgery Editor of the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience and Chief Examiner in Neurosurgery for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. She is Deputy-Chair (formerly chair) of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Section of Women in Surgery, and has received the RACS Medal for Services to RACS. She is Chair of Pangea Global Health Education, a not-for-profit organisation specialising in health education in low resource settings and Chair of the Education for the Asian Australasian Society of Neurological Surgeons.

In 2019 she was awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to medicine, particularly in the field of neuro-oncology and community health.