Eaton completed a B.S. in biology at Brown University in 1981 before earning a Ph.D. in microbiology at University of California, Los Angeles in 1988.[1] Her thesis, entitled Molecular analysis of an immunoglobulin heavy chain promoter, was completed under the supervision of Kathryn Calame.[4] She was awarded the Sydney C. Rittenberg Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in Microbiology by the Association of Academic Women in 1988 for her doctoral work.[1]