Ferrell has made important contributions to the understanding of signal transduction pathways and, in particular, the MAP kinase pathway. He serves as an ad hoc reviewer on NIH sections and panels in the areas of cell biology and physiology and biochemistry, and he is a frequent lecturer at major national and international symposia. She has been in private practice, on the clinical faculty and served as a key member of the Stanford cardiac transplantation team since 1977. She became an acting professor of medicine last year. She is involved in collaborative research, participating in clinical trials of immunosuppressive agents and playing a significant role in the clinical evaluation and reporting of problems and techniques in the medical management of transplant patients.
Hunt is active in the field of cardiac transplantation, locally, nationally and internationally.
She chairs the coronary care unit committee and the ambulatory treatment unit committee at Stanford Hospital.