Halde was instrumental in making medical mycology a widespread field of research, lecturing around the world and setting up laboratory facilities to examine and culture fungal samples.
[6] During her time in Hawaii, Halde went on hiking and camping trips,[1] including an expedition sponsored by the university to collect botanical samples.
[7] Looking to become a professional medical mycologist, Halde applied and was accepted in the Ph.D. program at Duke University supervised by Dr. Norman Conant.
[2] In the summer of 1950, Halde was forced to cancel her regular medical mycology lecture series in Hawaii after receiving news that she had been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship.
At the end of her Fulbright tenure, she embarked on a tour of Southeast Asia with meetings coordinated by the World Health Organization.
[2] Returning to the United States in 1951, Halde worked on her Ph.D. at Duke until 1953 with a thesis entitled The relation of nutrition to the growth and morphology of trichophyton concentricum blanchard 1896.
[13] The main focus of her research was medical mycology and she published many resources for clinicians in medicine, dentistry and pharmacology.