Kerry Highley worked in medical laboratory science for many years before returning to University in 2000 to study history. In 2009 she received her PhD in the History of Medicine from the Australian National University for her thesis on the polio epidemics in Australia. While at the ANU, she tutored in Second World War studies and the History of Terrorism, and retired in 2011 to work on Dancing in My Dreams. Apart from polio, her research interests include the history of the Australian Army Medical Corps in the First World War.