Virginia read Zoology at Oxford University, then moved to Cambridge University where she completed her PhD in 1983 on development of the mouse preimplantation embryo. She carried out post-doctoral research in Cambridge, examining development of the human embryo in vitro. In 1986 she moved to King’s College School of Medicine & Dentistry, later GKT, in 1986, as the Clinical Embryology lead first in the Assisted Conception Unit at King’s College Hospital and, from 2004, in the Assisted Conception Unit at Guy’s Hospital where, as Consultant Clinical Embryologist, she oversaw the laboratories in the busiest public service assisted conception unit in the UK.

She is a founder member of the UK Association of Clinical Embryologists and of the Progress Educational Trust, a former officer and now Trustee of the British Fertility Society, a Scientific Inspector for the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), and a member of the Education Committee of the International Federation of Fertility Societies. She has been involved in the establishment of successful assisted conception units in the Middle East, Singapore, Pakistan and Nigeria.