She grew up in a Jewish community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where she attended a small Orthodox yeshiva, graduating in 1961.
After graduating from MIT, Herzlinger obtained her Doctor of Business Administration degree from HBS.
[10] Herzlinger has served as director or board member of Bard, Cardinal Health, ChemoCentryx, HCR Manor Care, HealthAllies.com, John Deere, Lumenos (now Anthem Inc.), Noven Pharmaceuticals (now Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical), Physicians Interactive, RealMed Corporation, Schering-Plough, Total Renal Care (now DaVita Inc.), and Zimmer Holdings.
She resigned in 2010, citing a lack of co-operation from other board members in her efforts to deal with a number of accounting errors.
[1][2] Herzlinger has served on the Scientific Advisory Group of the United States Secretary of the Air Force.
[12] Herzlinger is the author of several best-selling books and has written for The Wall Street Journal and HuffPost.
[17][18] Herzlinger has twice received the American College of Healthcare Executives James A. Hamilton Book of the Year Award (1977 and 1998).