Dr. Hartman received her bachelor's degree in Biology from Washington and Jefferson College in 1998. She received her Ph.D. in Molecular Virology from the Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2003. Her graduate thesis was done in the laboratory of Mickey Murphey-Corb, Ph.D. and focused on host factors controlling Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) infection in rhesus macaques.

Dr. Hartman then did a post-doctoral fellowship in the Special Pathogens Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA under Stuart Nichol, Ph.D. Her work focused on viral virulence factors contributing to severe disease induced by infection with Ebola Zaire virus. During her time at CDC, Dr. Hartman was a member of the outbreak response team sent to Angola in 2005 during the largest recorded outbreak of Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever. Dr. Hartman assisted with setup and operation of the molecular diagnostic laboratory, which used Taqman PCR to diagnose patient clinical samples.

Dr. Hartman returned to the University of Pittsburgh in 2008 as the Research Manager of the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory with a primary faculty appointment in the Department of Infectious Disease and Microbiology (IDM) in the Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH).

Since 2014, Dr. Hartman has run an independent research laboratory within the Center for Vaccine Research. Her primary teaching responsibilities are within IDM in GSPH.