Professor Ahern is the Head of the Registry Science and Research Program, and Course Coordinator of the Master of Health Management/Master Health Administration and related courses at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (SPHPM) at Monash University. She is the Principal Investigator for the Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT) clinical quality registry and an AI on the ADNeT NHMRC grant, and a PI on the Australasian Pelvic Floor Procedure Registry (APFPR) and the Australian Cystic Fibrosis Data Registry (ACFDR). She also participates in the Steering and related Committees of many other clinical registries within SPHPM. She is a member of two national committees regarding clinical quality registries - the Australian Commission in Safety and Quality in Health Care's Advisory Committee for CQRs and the Commonwealth Department of Health's CQR Strategy Expert Advisory Group, as well as a member of the Victorian DHHS's CQR Advisory Group.

At SPHPM, she is an elected member of the Academic Board, a member of the Monash Partners Data-Driven Healthcare Improvement Committee, the SPHPM Research Governance Committee, and the SPHPM Data Management Committee. She is a current Board Member of Better Care Victoria, within the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. 

Professor Ahern was previously the Executive Director of Medical Services and Clinical Governance at Peninsula Health, and held earlier roles as Director Medical Services, Alfred Health, and Medical Director at the Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria. She has participated in numberous state and commonwealth committees as well as being on the Board of the Confederatation of Postgraduate Medical Councils. She has a MBBS (Hons) from the University of Melbourne, an MBA, Fellowship in Medical Administration and a PhD.

Professor Ahern is the unit author of the 2019 updated MHM/MHA unit of Clincal Leadership and Management, and teaches into many other units including Management Theory and Practice, Safety and Quality in Healthcare, Health Policy and the capstone Case Study unit. Her academic and research interests include policy related to clinical registries and data-driven health care, patient-reported outcomes in registries, and use of registry data for improving health outcomes. She has published over 50 papers and research reports. She currently supervise four PhD students, and regularly contributes to honors student supervision.