She received her medical degree from The Yale School of Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine training at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She then moved to the Johns Hopkins Hospital where she received Clinical Training in Nephrology. She also completed a research fellowship that was focused on the genetics of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. Dr. Watnick subsequently joined the faculty at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where she rose through the ranks to Associate Professor. During this time she continued to develop her clinical and research interests in Inherited Kidney Diseases. She moved to the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 2012 where she will continue to lead the Baltimore Polycystic Kidney Disease Research and Clinical Core Center (1P30 DK090868).