Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has come forward to accuse US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault more than three decades ago, is a clinical psychology professor whose academic work has been widely published. Ford, 51, teaches at Palo Alto University, south of San Francisco, in a consortium with Stanford University. According to an archive of her LinkedIn professional networking page, she has worked as a research psychologist at Stanford since 1998, and also taught psychology at Pepperdine University. In the private sector, she worked as a consultant to biotech companies in Silicon Valley, specializing in biostatistics.

The articles Ford has published have addressed a wide range of topics, including depression and the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. She received her undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina and earned a Master's degree in clinical psychology at Pepperdine University. She also earned a Master's in epidemiology and biostatistics at Stanford. Ford earned her PhD in educational psychology at the University of Southern California. Ford came forward with her allegation concerning Kavanaugh in July, when she sent a confidential letter detailing the alleged assault to her congresswoman as well as veteran Senator Dianne Feinstein.