Abi trained as an adult nurse at Homerton College, University of Cambridge, and completed an MSc in Critical Care Medicine at Queen Mary’s University London. A critical care nurse by background Abi has worked clinically with international organisations providing emergency surgical and medical care during conflict in West Africa and Asia.

She completed a postgraduate training in Advanced Practice at King’s College London, and completed a PhD at University of Amsterdam. Abi’s PhD focused on developing the methodologies and implementing the infrastructure for learning health systems in resource constrained settings. During this period co-founded NICS MORU - a non-profit research unit based in Sri Lanka, which develops and curates digital registries to strengthen research capacity and facilitate data driven service improvement in over 17 countries internationally.

Abi was appointed as a Reader in Critical care Medicine and Health Systems Development at the University of Edinburgh in 2022.