[3][4] She received her PhD in biological chemistry from the University of Michigan in 1995, working in the laboratory of the late Professor Martha L Ludwig.
Drennan's thesis is titled "Crystallographic studies of FMN and Vitamin B12 Dependent Enzymes: Flavodoxin and Methionine Synthase".
[7] During her time as a postdoctoral fellow, in 1997, she started and led the undergraduate poster competition at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) annual meeting.
[12] She is interested in the future of college classrooms and creating a positive learning environment for diverse groups of students.
[14] In 2006 Drennan was named an HHMI Professor and awarded a $1 million grant to support educational initiatives for "Getting Biologists Excited about Chemistry".