[3] In an interview, she recalled how one Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology showed pictures of naked women during his class, during which the female students stood up and left.
Ascher joined the faculty of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota in 1982 and was named Clinical Director of the Liver Transplant Program.
'[10] Ascher and her pioneering work in organ transplantation was the focus of the third episode of Netflix’s docuseries ‘The Surgeon’s Cut' which was released in December 2020.
[3] Ascher is married to fellow surgeon John Roberts - who was originally her student - and with whom she performed the first-ever live adult-to-child liver transplant that occurred at the University of California, San Francisco, in 1993.
Ascher has noted that her desire to work in medicine stemmed from a love of horror films - which showed her how to overcome her fears within her job.