Professor Mary Marcondes qualified as a Veterinarian from the University of São Paulo (USP), School of Veterinary Medicine, in 1986. She then undertook a Residency in Small Animal Internal Medicine and Surgery at USP from 1987 to 1988. Mary completed her MSc in Clinical Veterinary Science at USP in 1992 and her PhD in Clinical Veterinary Science at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in 1998. She held postdoctoral positions at the Department of Pathology in the USP Medical School from 2007 to 2008, studying visceral leishmaniasis, and at Dr. Janet Foley’s Laboratory in Infectious Disease, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, in 2011. Mary worked in the Department of Clinical Medicine, Surgery and Animal Reproduction in the School of Veterinary Medicine at UNESP, Araçatuba, São Paulo State, from 1992 to 2018. She retired from the University as Associate Professor in 2018. During her academic career she was a member of the Board of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Director of the Undergraduate Committee in Veterinary Medicine, Head of the Department of Clinical Medicine, Surgery and Animal Reproduction, member of the Board of the Postgraduate Programme and Vice-Dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine. Mary taught Small Animal Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases in the UNESP graduate student programmes. Currently she has a National Faculty Fellowship of Research Productivity from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPQ), is a member of the Scientific Board of the Brazilian Society for Veterinary Dermatology, a Member of the WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines Group (VGG) and a member of the Companion Vector-Borne Diseases (CVBD) World Forum. She continues an active programme of delivering continuing education in vaccinology and management of vector-borne infectious disease in Latin America.