She received an AB and MA from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1927 and 1928, and then worked as a high school and junior college teacher.
The Jepson Herbarium recognized her contributions at the University of California, Berkeley, publishing a document titled “First Women Botanists at Berkeley,” which includes biographical material on Helen Katherine Meyers Sharsmith (1905–1982).
Sharsmith worked as a research assistant at the University of California and as a biology teacher while pursuing her degree.
Later, she worked as a biology assistant at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and a senior botanist at Berkeley, where she retired in 1969.
Sharsmith’s dissertation, Flora of the Mount Hamilton Range of California (1945), was later published as a book.