Graduated in Literature and Political Sciences at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan, she has always dedicated herself to teaching and voluntary activities in the health and social sector.

In the academic years 1996-2007 she held seminars at the Bioengineering Department of the Polytechnic University of Milan.

She carries out training and advertising activities in newspapers and periodicals and has published books on health and bioethical issues.

Garavaglia made news internationally on 27 September 1980, when she was one of two Christian Democracy members who had arrived several minutes too late to participate in voting on her party's economic proposals, a 297 to 298 loss that caused Prime Minister Francesco Cossiga and his government to resign.

In 2008 she was elected to the Senate of the Republic for the Constituency of Veneto among the ranks of the Democratic Party.