Fanya Gottesfeld Heller came to the United States after the Holocaust. She obtained a B.A. and an M.A. in psychology from the New School for Social Research and honorary degrees from Yeshiva University and Bar-Ilan University. She has also studied art history at Columbia University, philosophy and literature at the New School, and family therapy at the Ackerman Institute. In 1998 she established The Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Center for the Study of Women in Judaism at Bar-Ilan University. In that same year, New York State Board of Regents awarded Mrs. Heller the Louis E. Yavner Citizen Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to teaching about the Holocaust and other assaults on humanity. Mrs. Heller's writings have also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and Jewish newspapers nationwide. To give other educators the tools to effectively teach the lessons of the Holocaust, Mrs. Heller commissions an annual conference on Holocaust education at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. She also lectures at universities and conferences to promote further awareness of the Holocaust.