After more than 16 years with NSW Health Pathology, and a forty-year career in laboratory medicine, Wagga Wagga’s Maria Irish Cabauatan is embarking on a well-earned retirement.

Maria’s jour­ney into pathol­o­gy began almost by acci­dent. She orig­i­nal­ly want­ed to pur­sue med­i­cine, but com­plet­ed a lab­o­ra­to­ry intern­ship instead which was an expe­ri­ence that changed her per­spec­tive entirely.

“I realised the impor­tance of lab­o­ra­to­ry med­i­cine in help­ing diag­nose patients and that inspired me to pur­sue a career as a Med­ical Lab­o­ra­to­ry Scientist.”

That deci­sion would lead to a career span­ning many con­ti­nents, major health events and wit­ness­ing sig­nif­i­cant advances in lab­o­ra­to­ry sci­ence over the years.

A glob­al career with last­ing impact
Across four decades, Maria has worked in diverse and demand­ing envi­ron­ments. Among her stand­out achieve­ments are estab­lish­ing two Micro­bi­ol­o­gy depart­ments in major hos­pi­tals over­seas, includ­ing a trans­plant spe­cial­ist facility.

Dur­ing her time work­ing in Sau­di Ara­bia, Maria served as Head of Micro­bi­ol­o­gy, while also men­tor­ing stu­dents and col­leagues, many of whom have gone on to lead micro­bi­ol­o­gy and infec­tious dis­ease departments.

One of the most chal­leng­ing peri­ods of her career was work­ing through the Gulf War (Desert Storm), which test­ed both her resilience and com­mit­ment to patient care.
Maria’s career has been con­stant­ly evolving.

From emerg­ing pathogens to advances in diag­nos­tic tech­nolo­gies, she has embraced these changes, con­tin­u­ous­ly build­ing her exper­tise in areas such as antimi­cro­bial resis­tance and evolv­ing micro­bi­o­log­i­cal techniques.

Maria said among the most sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges in recent years was the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Work­ing along­side the pathol­o­gy team, I helped process hun­dreds (some­times thou­sands!) of COVID-19 spec­i­mens dai­ly dur­ing crit­i­cal peri­ods of the pandemic”.

Her test­ing efforts in the lab­o­ra­to­ry sup­port­ed both sur­veil­lance and post-vac­ci­na­tion phas­es, ensur­ing time­ly and accu­rate results for the community.

Mari­a’s con­tri­bu­tion to NSW Health Pathology
Maria joined the for­mer South­west Pathol­o­gy Wag­ga Wag­ga in 2010, bring­ing with her a wealth of expe­ri­ence and tech­ni­cal knowl­edge. She ini­tial­ly worked as a mul­ti-skilled sci­en­tist in the core lab­o­ra­to­ry, con­tribut­ing to after-hours ser­vices before step­ping into her role as Sec­ond-in-Charge of the Micro­bi­ol­o­gy Depart­ment at NSW Health Pathology’s Wag­ga Wag­ga Laboratory.

Maria has been instru­men­tal in strength­en­ing the department’s capa­bil­i­ty, by sup­port­ing the inte­gra­tion of new work­loads, men­tor­ing staff, and help­ing shape the next gen­er­a­tion of sci­en­tists in the Mur­rumbidgee region.

The lab will miss their men­tor, col­league and friend
Maria’s col­leagues describe her as a qui­et achiev­er, high­ly skilled and a won­der­ful team member.

“Maria has the best work eth­ic and is so fun to be around, always mak­ing us laugh” said Senior Sci­en­tist in Charge of Micro­bi­ol­o­gy, Robert Johnson.

Through­out her time at Wag­ga Wag­ga, Maria has played a vital role in men­tor­ing and train­ing staff who are just start­ing out in pathology.

She has also sup­port­ed work­flows beyond the micro­bi­ol­o­gy lab, includ­ing assist­ing Cen­tral Spec­i­men Recep­tion to ensure smooth pro­cess­ing of sam­ples when they arrive at the lab,” Robert said.

Maria is a mul­ti­lin­gual speak­er of Eng­lish, Ara­bic and Fil­ipino, she’s also known among col­leagues as a “Tik­Tok Queen,” shar­ing her love of danc­ing and singing.

“Maria’s gen­tle humour and warm pres­ence have left a last­ing impres­sion on the team. We will miss her say­ing one of her favourite say­ings like “All good in the hood” and her abil­i­ty to bring joy to the work­place,” Robert said.

Mari­a’s next chapter
Maria will fin­ish up at the end of June 2026, before tak­ing long ser­vice leave until ear­ly 2027. As she retires, Maria is look­ing for­ward to a slow­er pace of life.

“I plan to enjoy the fruits of all my hard work and relax,” she says.

While her dai­ly pres­ence in the lab will be great­ly missed, Maria leaves behind a lega­cy of ded­i­ca­tion, men­tor­ship and excel­lence in microbiology.

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