[1] In her later career, she was also known for her interest in interdisciplinary approaches, as exemplified in her book Poisons of the Past: Molds, Epidemics, and History (1989).
[6] In 1962, Matossian published the book The Impact of Soviet Policies in Armenia, a groundbreaking study that influenced scholars such as Ronald Grigor Suny.
The work "stood virtually alone for two decades as the main Anglophone source on Soviet social reforms in Armenian life.
[2] In the 1980s and 1990s, Matossian became known for her study on the role of food contamination in historical events such as the Salem witchcraft panic (following on the earlier work of Linnda R. Caporael) and the Great Fear of 1789.
[19] Kilbourne married Garabed Setrak "Garo" Matossian, an Armenian physician; they met during her graduate work in Beirut.