He founded the PhD Program in Human Sexuality at the California Institute for Integral Studies, San Francisco (2013).

He conducted long term field work among the Sambia people of Papua New Guinea, and has written widely on the nature and variation in human sexual expression in Papua New Guinea, Melanesia, and across culture.

The Sambia are unique in that in the past they require males to undergo three specific sexual phases in their lives.

[3] Herdt also wrote about the binabinaaine of Kiribati and Tuvalu, describing how they are known for their performances and their ability to comment on the appearance and behaviour of Tuvaluan men.

[4] In the United States, Herdt has also studied adolescents and their families, the emergence of HIV and gay culture, and the role that social policy plays in sexual health.