She is a Professor of Computational Biology and Genomics and Director of the Scripps Genome Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

[5][6] She was elected a Fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) in 2018 for outstanding contributions to the fields of computational biology and bioinformatics.

The position of mayor of Del Mar rotates among the city councilmembers.

During her seventeen years as a Del Mar resident before running for office, she served on the city's finance and sea level rise advisory committees.

[8] Gaasterland opposes efforts by the California Coastal Commission to mandate managed retreat as a response to sea level rise in Del Mar.