Whitelaw performed undergraduate studies at the Australian National University and obtained her D.Phil.
[3] Whitelaw has worked extensively on the control of gene expression in higher eukaryotes.
In 1999 Whitelaw, together with her co-workers made the first-ever demonstration of epigenetic inheritance in mammals.
[4] In 2008, Whitelaw was awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Australia Fellowship and in 2011 she became a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
[5] In 2011, she received the Jubilee Medal from the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology for work on the transgenerational inheritance of epigenetic marks.