Dr Mary O'Leary (They/She)

About me:

I co-lead the BioActivEx research group with Prof Jo Bowtell. We research the effects of bioactive compounds on exercise-induced muscle damage, adipose tissue inflammation and musculoskeletal ageing. I have broad expertise in integrated human physiology and use techniques such as proteomics and primary human cell culture to provide mechanistic insights into the physioloigcal effects of bioactives on humans in vivo. I have received research support from industrial and public funders, including Innovate UK, The US Highbush Blueberry Council, Pukka Herbs, The Torbay Medical Research Fund, Lallemand and PepsiCo. I have supervised five postgraduate research students and two postdoctoral researchers since joining Exeter in 2018. I enjoy doing 'good science with great people'. 

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I lead two undergraduate modules - ESS2509 Sports Nutrition and Metabolism and ESS3508 - Nutrition for High Performance. I also teach on the MSc module 'Physical Activity in the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Disease'. I am the Programme Adviser to the Sport and Exercise Medical Sciences programme that is delivered alongside colleagues in Clinical and Biomedical Sciences. It is very rewarding to support our taught students throughout their time at Exeter and seeing them graduate is one of the best days of my year. 

I originally trained as a medical doctor, completing a medical degree at University College Cork. Relatively quickly, I decided that physiology research was my true calling and I completed a Wellcome Trust supported MRes/PhD programme at the University of Birmingham in 2018. My PhD work investigated the role of adipose and skeletal muscle derived cytokines in in vitro human myogenesis and was supervised by Dr Simon Jones and co-supervised by Dr Graham Wallace and Dr Kostas Tsintzas. 

Qualifications:

2011 - MB, BCh, BAO, University College Cork. First Class Honours.

2013 - MSc Integrated Physiology, University of Nottingham.

2014 - MRes Biomedical Research, University of Birmingham.

2018 - PhD, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, University of Birmingham.