After post-graduate training in conservation at Harvard University, Rustin worked on the painting conservation staffs of the Canadian Conservation Institute, The National Gallery of Canada, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She then founded ArtCare Conservation offering museum quality painting conservation to institutions and private clients in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. In addition to conserving paintings, and supervising conservation studios Rustin has co-authored, with art historian, Andrea Kirsh, Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies and written chapters for The Expert vs the Object and The Conservation of Easel Paintings. Seeing Through Paintings, was awarded the American Library Association Excellence Prize. The authors were also awarded the Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation Prize by the College Art Association and Heritage Preservation. Rustin is a Fellow both in the International Institute for Conservation and the American Institute for Conservation where she has served on numerous professional committees. In 2015 she was awarded a Residency at the American Academy in Rome.