[5] During her academic career, Ford has worked as a professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine Collaborative Clinical Psychology Program.

[6] In September 2018, Ford claimed that then-U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in Bethesda, Maryland, when they were teenagers in the summer of 1982.

[13] While on her regional sports team for diving, she accompanied diver Greg Louganis on a trip to the White House to discuss the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott.

[18] Ford teaches subjects including psychometrics, study methodologies, clinical trials, and statistics to doctoral students and serves on dissertation committees.

"[26] In early July 2018, after Judge Brett Kavanaugh was reported to be on Donald Trump's shortlist to become an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Ford contacted both The Washington Post and her congresswoman, Anna Eshoo.

[27] In a July 30, 2018 letter to Feinstein, Ford alleged that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when both were in high school in Bethesda, Maryland, and stated that she expected her story to be kept confidential.

[30] On September 12, The Intercept reported (without naming Ford) that Feinstein was withholding a Kavanaugh-related document from fellow Judiciary Committee Democrats.

[34] Ford said she had wrestled with the choice to make her identity known, weighing the potential negative impact it could have on her,[35][36] but ultimately spoke to The Washington Post, alleging that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her in the summer of 1982 when she was 15 and he was 17.

[37][38][39][40] She said that, while his friend Mark Judge watched, Kavanaugh, intoxicated, held her down on a bed with his body, grinding against and groping her, covering her mouth when she tried to scream and trying to pull her clothes off.

[7] The therapist's notes do not name Kavanaugh but record Ford's claim of being attacked by students "from an elitist boys' school" who went on to become "highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington".

[43] Attorneys Debra Katz, Lisa Banks and Michael Bromwich represented Ford pro bono[8] in the process of going public with her statements about Kavanaugh.

[45] On September 18, Ford's attorneys sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley requesting that the FBI investigate the incident before the Senate held a hearing on Ford's allegations to "ensure that the crucial facts and witnesses in this matter are assessed in a non-partisan manner, and that the Committee is fully informed before conducting any hearing or making any decisions".

The letter additionally noted the significant public support Ford had received, but also severe harassment including death threats, forcing her to leave her home.

[50] Trump's statements about Ford prompted sexual assault victims to start tweeting using the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport to share reasons for silence.

[61] Following the hearing, Mitchell produced a report stating that she did not believe a reasonable prosecutor would bring a case against Kavanaugh based on the evidence presented to the committee and adding that there were multiple inconsistencies in Ford's testimony.

As of November 21, 2018, Ford had used some of the money to cover security costs to protect herself and her family, but said that she would donate the remainder to organizations that support trauma survivors.

"[75] As of November 2018[update], Ford stated that she was still being harassed and threatened and had to move four times as well as hire private security;[76] furthermore, she had not been able to resume her teaching at Palo Alto University.

[80] In November 2018, a GoFundMe started by Georgetown Law professor Heidi Li Feldman raised $30,000 towards endowing a professorship or scholarship in Ford's name.

[84] Additionally, Ford has been nominated for a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Distinguished Alumna Award for "speaking truth to power" when she went public with her sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh.