She trained as a stroke neurologist at the University Hospital of Lille, France, and completed a master degree in statistical genetics at the University Paris-XI, and a PhD in epidemiology at an Inserm Unit at the Pasteur Institute in Lille, France. Between 2008 and 2010, Dr. Debette has worked as a Fulbright post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Neurology of Boston University School of Medicine where she joined the neurology research team of the Framingham Heart Study.