She earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem NC and conducted her own NIH-funded research under a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Temple University. Dr. Ward is currently working with Dr. Walker examining the behavioral pharmacology of opioids, serotonergics, chemotherapeutics, and cannabinoids. She is also working to establish an independently funded program investigating the role of the endogenous cannabinoid system in learning, reward, and addiction.