Mary Anne studied Psychology at the University of Malta. In 1990 she read for a Masters in Social Psychology (now PBS) at the London School of Economics and later a Doctorate on the Social Psychology of Social Marketing under the supervision of Prof George Gaskell. Mary Anne joined the University of Malta in 1992 as a member of the Department of Psychology where she was promoted to Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and later to Professor. For ten years, between 2006 and 2016, Mary Anne was Pro-Rector at the University of Malta in charge of Students’ and Institutional Affairs. She sat on various University of Malta boards and governing bodies such as Council, Senate, Recruitment Boards and the Staff Scholarships and Bursaries Committee and chaired the Boards of the Junior College, Centre for Literacy, Centre for Family Studies and Institute of Public Administration and Management.

Mary Anne has  authored several works published in both Maltese and international journals and won a National Book Prize awarded by the National Book Council (Malta) for the book Exploring the Maltese Media Landscape co-authored with J. Borg. Areas of research include Media Psychology, Social Marketing, Social Representations and Social Wellbeing. She has reviewed papers for several academic journals.

Between 2004 and 2008 she was President of the Maltese Psychological Association, now the Malta Chamber of Psychologists and between 2011 and 2013 was appointed member on the Maltese Psychologists Profession Board in charge of regulating and warranting the psychology profession in Malta.

On a national level, Mary Anne has served on the Editorial Board of the Public Broadcasting Services, the National Bio-Ethics Consultative Committee, the National Commission for the Family and the Adoptions Board. Actively involved in political, media and voluntary organisations.