Debora Heard is a Ph.D. Candidate in anthropology, specializing in the archaeology of ancient Nubia.  She has also studied ancient Egyptian history and language extensively in the Egyptology section of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures.  Debora situates her research at the intersection of anthropology, archaeology, Egyptology, Nubian Studies, African Studies, and Africana Studies.  Her dissertation analyzes the inscriptions and iconography of Upper Nubian Kushite temples dedicated to the gods Amun and Apedemak as it relates to the mutual rights and responsibilities of the royal family, the gods, and the people to ensure the proper functioning of the Kushite polity.

Debora has served as an intern in the Department of Egyptian and Nubian Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and as a curatorial assistant in the original installation of the Robert F. Picken Family Nubian Gallery of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (ISAC) Museum.  She has performed archival and museum research at the British Museum, Ashmolean Museum, and the Griffith Institute at the University of Oxford, and she has excavated at the 4th Cataract of the Nile River in Sudan as a member of the Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition.  

She is a member of several professional organizations, including the International Society for Nubian Studies (ISNS), the Sudan Archaeological Research Society (SARS), the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC), the Society of Black Archaeologists (SBA), the American Sudanese Archaeological Research Center (AmSARC), the Nile Valley Collective (NVC), the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), and the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE).  Most recently, she serves as the organizer and founding member of the William Leo Hansberry Society, an organization committed to providing African-descended people with access, opportunity, and training in the fields of ancient Nile Valley and Northeast African Studies.

She holds a BS in Political Science from Tennessee State University, a JD from Tulane Law School, a MA in African-American Studies from Temple University, and a MA in Anthropology from the University of Chicago.