[1][2][3] Gilbert is a graduate of Oberlin College, and completed a Ph.D. in biostatistics at the University of Michigan.
[1] She has worked at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, and at the National Cancer Institute from 1996[1] until her 2016 retirement.
[3] She also held a faculty position in biostatistics and biomathematics at the University of Washington.
[2] Gilbert won the George W. Snedecor Award of the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies in 1981 for her work on "the assessment of risks from occupational exposure to ionizing radiation".
[3] In 2016, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences gave Gilbert their Gold Medal for Radiation Protection.