Adrienne received her medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and undertook her PhD at the University of London in 1990 while she was a Medical Research Council Training Fellow at St George's Hospital Medical School in London. She became a senior lecturer and honorary consultant pathologist at Imperial College London, and later moved to University College London, and now practices clinical pathology at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.  Adrienne was elected as Professor of Musculoskeletal Pathology at UCL’s Cancer Institute in 2004.  Adrienne is the Meeting Secretary of Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and a trustee or member of the Sarcoma UK, The Jean Shanks Foundation, and The Chordoma Foundation (USA). Her research interests focus on reclassifying bone and soft tissue tumours using molecular signatures which she then translates into clinical practice, and uses for stratifying patients for treatment. She was the co-lead of the International Cancer Genome Consortium bone tumour project (2010-2015).

In 2017 she became a senior NIHR Fellow, and was awarded the Goudie for her contribution to pathological science and the understanding of disease mechanisms. She was also awarded the William Gerald Award by the Department of Pathology Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in recognition for her contribution to research in caner pathology.