Aileen received her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland. After her undergraduate degree, she did her PhD in Medical Sciences at Uppsala University, Sweden. She carried out postdoctoral studies at Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard University for three years before returning to Sweden for a short spell before starting an RCUK fellowship at King’s College, London in 2006. In January 2011, she took up a position as Lecturer in Pharmacology at King’s College London and has been a Professor since 2024.

Her main research interests include improving islet transplantation outcomes and understanding how male and females respond differently to ER stress in pancreatic beta cells. She is the head of the teaching department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics. Her teaching interests include teaching in vivo skills and statistics. She is an expert educator in the British Pharmacology Society Research Animal Science Education Scheme and a fellow of the British Pharmacology Society.