Her publications in physiology and ecology include work on tropical bats, manatees, hibernation in lizards, estivation in aquatic salamanders, and metabolic control by thyroid hormones in snakes. Her current scholarship focuses  on the integration of  natural history images and the history of biology in the Renaissance and Early Modern periods, with focus on Maria Sibylla Merian in recent work (see links at right); she co-organized a symposium on Merian that was held in May 2014 at the University of Amsterdam and is a founding member of the Maria Sibylla Merian Society.  Other recent scholarship includes investigation into Leonardo da Vinci’s possible encounter with a fossil whale. She is an editor of the book series, Emergence of Natural History, Brill Publishing.

Etheridge teaches  Comparative Animal Physiology,  Introductory Biology, and a seminar on Creativity in Art and Science.  She recently co-taught an interdisciplinary course on Renaissance Curiosity Cabinets with Felicia Else.  She is also a painter, and has exhibited work at various places in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

The K-12 science education program, Advancing Science, was designed by Dr. Etheridge, who has been the program director since 1994. This Gettysburg College outreach program makes over 30,000 student contacts per year in the schools of south-central Pennsylvania.