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Amy graduated from SFU, where she was very active in humanitarian causes, with a degree in microbiology and biochemistry. After completing an Honours thesis in HIV research, she traveled to Ukraine to teach HIV education at high schools and universities.

After graduating, she was offered a full scholarship to complete a PhD in prostate cancer research at the Queensland University of Technology, where she completed her thesis and started a chapter of Universities Allied for Essential Medicine. She worked with professors and students to make sure all drugs and technologies developed by her institute would not patent in low and middle-income countries so that those who might need them most might be able to afford them.

Amy began her successful health career investigating bone metastasis and cancer stem cells, but started the transition to public health and policy after learning about how the social determinants of health (such as housing, income, environment and the policies that affect them) make a much bigger difference to people's health than their biology. Her transition began by working on a project called Cities Changing Diabetes, investigating how municipal policies and design can influence the prevalence and outcomes of a silent epidemic. Throughout her career, she has investigated how municipal design, including housing styles, can influence mental health and social isolation, and how cities can become resilient to climate change.

She is also a long-time volunteer and social/environmental justice advocate in the Tri-Cities and across BC. She volunteers for the Public Health Association of BC to advance poverty reduction, the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment around issues like hydraulic fracturing and climate change, the Tri-Cities Refugee Welcome Wagon, Coalition for a Healthy Riverview, Force of Nature Alliance, Leadnow, and Amnesty International.