Professor Herd has a longstanding interest in multicultural health and has taught in the field for years. Her research focuses on health disparities in drinking and drug use patterns and problems; images of alcohol, drugs and violence in popular culture; and social movements. Herd contributed to the Institute of Medicine report on Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. Herd also received an award through the Innovators Combating Substance Abuse Program at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She has also received funding from the National Institutes of Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for studies on ethnic and racial variation in drinking patterns, social movements, and popular culture.