[1] Her work often focuses on conflicts and human rights issues, especially the role of women in traditional societies.

[4] She also holds two Honorary Doctorate Degrees, one from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Humanities, and another from Bates College in Maine.

[6] While living in India, Addario traveled through Nepal, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, focusing on humanitarian and women's issues.

[7] After the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, Addario resolved to photograph Afghanistan and Pakistan under the Taliban.

The New York Times reported on March 18, 2011, that Libya had agreed to free her and three colleagues: Anthony Shadid, Stephen Farrell and Tyler Hicks.

[22] The extensive exhibition 'In Afghanistan'[23] at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway has her photos of Afghan women juxtaposed with Tim Hetherington's photographs from American soldiers in the Korangal Valley.

Addario's bodies of work include "Finding Home" a year-long documentary following three Syrian refugee families and their stateless newborns over the course of one year as they await asylum in Europe for Time, The Changing Face of Saudi Women for National Geographic and "The Displaced" for The New York Times Magazine, a reportage documenting the lives of three children displaced from war in Syria, Ukraine, and South Sudan.

Addario spent four years documenting the plight of Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq for The New York Times, and she has covered the civil war in South Sudan, and Maternal Mortality in Assam, India, and Sierra Leone for Time.

[25] While reporting from Irpin adjacent to Kyiv, Addario photographed a Russian mortar attack on evacuating civilians.