Máire is the Deputy Head of the Irish Department of Agriculture’s Laboratories.  She is a graduate of University College Dublin’s (UCD) School of Veterinary Medicine.  Following a period in mixed practice she returned to UCD to do a PhD and a residency in veterinary pathology.  She joined the Irish government’s Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) in 1994.

Her work within CVRL was initially largely focussed on TSE and food animal diagnostic pathology. In 2019 she was appointed as Head of Bacteriology and Parasitology Division, with responsibility for National Reference Laboratories of TB, Antimicrobial Resistance and zoonotic parasites.  In July 2024 she was appointed as Deputy Head of Laboratories. 

She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists (farmed ruminants and pigs), a previous examiner for RCPath and is on the Specialist Register of the Veterinary Council of Ireland. 

Dr Pamela Kelly is an Assistant Professor and Head of Section in Veterinary Pathology in University College Dublin, School of Veterinary Medicine. She is a recognized  European Specialist in Veterinary Pathology, a diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Pathologists and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists. She has a PhD in Dermatopathology and is a graduate of Veterinary Medicine and Science. Her research areas of interests are in dermatopathology and ‘One Health’ comparative oncology.