Studying psychology, Molloy gained a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and PhD, with her studies increasingly focusing on the phenomenon of
brain injuries and the effects and disturbances induced by such injuries. In the 1980s, she worked as a
neuropsychologist at the
Austin and
St Vincent’s hospitals, while also working at the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Centre at
Glen Waverley. Molloy set up the Cognitive Rehabilitation Centre in 1986, a medical practice to provide rehabilitation for people suffering brain injuries from transport and workplace accidents. She used computer-based tools to aid the brain's recovery from injury. She visited overseas centres to meet with international scholars in the field and published a book on the subject with Julie Ann Garner. In the 1990s, Molloy studied a Master of Science degree in cognitive neuroscience and focused on the use of
artificial intelligence systems to model brain function. Her thesis focused upon the feasibility of developing a computer-based diagnostic advisory system with the potential to provide reliable assistance in the prediction of outcome for patients who had sustained head injuries. In the years after her thesis, she explored computer-generated options for assessing the
neuroplasticity of the brain and models for assessing recovery from brain injury after traumatic injuries. In her own practice, Molloy began to specialise in the diagnosis and measurement of acquired brain injury and she became one of Australia’s leading private practitioners in the field. By the late 1990s, Molloy was regularly called to be an expert witness in litigation related to head injury, a common outcome of motor vehicle and workplace accidents. This led her to study a law degree, graduating at 80 years old. As Molloy’s forensic career developed, she became the favoured neuropsychologist for plaintiff lawyers in Victoria. She continued in practice until the year prior to her death, continuing to assess the nature and extent of brain injuries from diverse sources, including from
heavy metal poisoning. == Maureen Molloy Medal ==