Thorndike is the director of the Metabolic Syndrome Clinic at the MGH Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Center. Her clinical and research interests are the prevention and treatment of obesity and cardiometabolic disease through lifestyle modification. Her research focuses on interventions utilizing behavioral economics strategies, including traffic-light labels and choice architecture, to improve dietary intake and health outcomes in worksite and community-based settings. She is particularly interested in improving healthy food choices among low-income populations, especially those participating in government food assistance programs.