Dr. Heerding has been associated with Penn for over 20 years as a graduate student, a postdoctoral fellow, and now as the Associate Director for the Biological Basis of Behavior (BBB) Program. She is a native of California with degrees in chemistry from both U.C. Davis and U.C. Berkeley. Dr. Heerding earned her PhD in Pharmacology at Penn in the laboratory of Dr. Steven Fluharty, investigating ligand binding to G protein-coupled receptors. She teaches Autonomic Pharmacology, using her Rhodesian Ridgeback, Zoey, as a topic of numerous hypothetical medical conditions and situations. Zoey is amazingly resilient, having survived acute hypertension, hyponatremia, and overactive bladder. Dr. Heerding has been named a “Hall of Fame” instructor by Penn Course Reviews, has been chosen as the recipient of the BBB Society Teaching Award, and was the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by Affiliated Faculty in 2011.
