Fiona obtained her degree in Physiology and Biochemistry and a PhD in Biological Sciences at Southampton University. She completed her postdoctoral research, studying the transcriptional regulation of hepatic myofibroblast biology in the Liver Research group at Southampton University. In 2006 she was the recipient of the Dame Sheila Sherlock Young Investigator Research Medal for contributions to hepatology research.

Fiona moved to a lectureship at Newcastle University in 2006, joining the Newcastle Fibrosis Research Group. She is an internationally renowned expert in organ fibrosis, MASLD and in the use of pre-clinical models of fibrotic disease. Fiona developed the Bioreactor technology for preservation of precision-cut tissue slices and their use for modelling fibrosis.

Fiona is currently the Professor of Fibrosis Biology in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University.  She has published 114 research papers which have attracted 7,217 citations and she has an h index = 48.