As a clinician and clinical researcher, she treats both early and advanced thyroid cancers, including medullary, differentiated, and anaplastic thyroid cancers. Her research focus is in advanced and aggressive thyroid cancer, with an emphasis that includes molecular targeted therapies and immunotherapy. Dr. Cabanillas led the effort to create FAST, Facilitating Anaplastic thyroid cancer Specialized Treatment at MD Anderson. This multidisciplinary group sees the highest volume of anaplastic thyroid cancer patients in the nation. They have focused their efforts on streamlining the process to see these complex patients, tailor treatment plans based on the molecular abnormalities in the tumor, and designing clinical trials for this patient population.

Dr. Cabanillas serves as the principal investigator on several clinical trials for the treatment of advanced thyroid cancer and serves on the 2020 anaplastic thyroid cancer guidelines committee for the American Thyroid Association. She has been a member of the International Thyroid Oncology Group (ITOG) since 2012 and completed her term on the Board of Directors in 2020.