Gerberding grew up in Estelline, South Dakota, attended Brookings High School, and earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Case Western Reserve University.

Gerberding grew up in Estelline, South Dakota[1] and attended Brookings High School[2] and Case Western Reserve University, where she earned an undergraduate degree in biology in 1977 and an M.D.

[6] She completed several studies on the risks of HIV to healthcare workers, created guidelines to prevent their infections, and established a treatment and research unit focused on HIV/AIDS cases among the urban poor.

In July 2002, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson named Gerberding as the director of the CDC and administrator for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).

[4] In May 2004, the CDC announced a significant restructuring to improve its preparedness for several types of threats, to promote health, and to better prevent disease, injury and disability.

[19][20][18] In April 2021, Gerberding told a Michigan news outlet that the United States' response to the COVID-19 pandemic was inadequate and that herd immunity to the virus would be challenging to achieve due to widespread vaccine hesitancy.