[4] Anderson earned a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in biochemical sciences from Harvard University in 1978 with membership in Phi Beta Kappa.

He then received a Ph.D. in 1983 in cell biology from Rockefeller University, where trained under Nobel laureate Günter Blobel.

[5] Anderson's work (mid 1980s–early 2000s) focused on the development and function of the nervous system, particularly the mechanism of fate determination of neural stem cells.

His laboratory's current focus is to dissect genes and neural circuits underlying innate behaviors and associated emotion states, such as fear and aggression.

[7] He has also studied the mechanisms of fear[8] and touch,[9] and the neural activity in the brains of mice during social behaviors such as mating and aggression.