[3] After completing studies and fieldwork in Thessaloniki, she joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, where she taught Byzantine art history from 1994-2004 holding, at the same time, a position at Dumbarton Oaks.
In 2014, together with Chris Kyriakakis (Professor of Electrical Engineering, USC), Gerstel and a team of scholars undertook research on the acoustics of Byzantine churches in Thessaloniki.
[4] In 2023, as part of the program Gefyra, funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, she initiated a collaboration with the Cultural Society of Geraki to study and publish traditional weavings from the village.
In 2020, Gerstel criticized plans to convert the Hagia Sophia into a mosque, calling it "anti-Orthodox" and "an attempt at cultural erasure".
[3] In recognition of her service to the Hellenic Republic, she was awarded honorary citizenship in 2021 and, in the same year, was named a Commander of the Order of the Phoenix, one of Greece’s highest honors.