Heidi Elmendorf has been at Georgetown University since 1999 as a faculty member in the Department of Biology.

She has spent her research career in the field of global health, studying parasitic diseases that primarily affect the world’s most underprivileged people. Her laboratory conducts research on the intestinal parasite Giardia. Over the past two decades, Elmendorf has taught a wide range of biology courses to both majors and non-majors and has won numerous teaching honors for her work.

Elmendorf has long been committed to increasing opportunities in the sciences for a greater diversity of students. In 2002, she founded—and has since directed—a STEM partnership with DC Public Schools. Since 2010, she has coordinated and taught in the Science Week of the Summer College Immersion Program, a partnership with Cristo Rey and KIPP schools. Elmendorf founded, and now serves, as director of both the Regents STEM Scholars Program and the Hub for Equity and Innovation in Higher Education.