She pursued her undergraduate education in Biology at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Alliston earned her doctoral degree in Cell Biology from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas in 1998, working under the guidance of Dr. JoAnne Richards. After receiving her doctorate, Dr. Alliston was named an Arthritis Foundation Fellow, working as a post-doctoral scientist in the lab of Dr. Rik Derynck at UCSF. In 2002, she was appointed an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Cell and Tissue Biology at UCSF.