Her research focuses on how food can be used as medicine and her main food of interest is extra virgin olive oil. In 2013, she founded The Olive Oil Health Initiative of The Miriam Hospital at Brown University. She has developed a plant-based, olive oil diet that she has tested for weight loss in women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. She is currently testing the diet in men with prostate cancer for weight loss and improvement in components of the metabolic syndrome. She has developed a protocol of her 6-week cooking program for clients with type 2 diabetes. She is co-author of the books Low-Fat Lies, High-Fat Frauds and the Healthiest Diet in the World (Lifeline Press, 1999) and A Pink Ribbon Diet (Da Capo Press, October 2010) which is a weight loss program and cookbook for women who have had breast cancer.