Her academic work as a student, professor, and researcher on organisms and their respective environments prepared her for the position, in which she was responsible for protecting Earth and other planets in the solar system from traveling microbes.

Later, as Pratt was completing her post-doctoral work at the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver, she studied microorganisms in the extreme heat of active African gold mines.

[7] In 2011, she received a $2.4 million grant from NASA's Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets program to study microorganisms on the Greenland Ice Sheet.

She says that encouragement from her daughter led to her submitting her name,[9] and on February 5, 2018, Pratt became the Planetary Protection Officer for NASA, leaving her role as Indiana University's College of Arts and Sciences dean.

[11] Her research at NASA focused on the developing the tools and techniques needed to avoid organic-constituent and biological contamination during either human or robotic missions.

[12] In May 2021, President Biden announced the appointment of J. Nick Benardini to replace Pratt as Planetary Protection Officer effective the following month.