Finley received her Bachelor of Science (BS) degree summa cum laude from Yale University.
Finley completed her PhD at Harvard Medical School, where she worked in the laboratory of Marcia Haigis.
Finley then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Craig Thompson at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
After completing her postdoctoral work, Finley opened her own laboratory in 2017, which is located in the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Notably, as a postdoctoral fellow, Finley and Bryce W. Carey discovered that intracellular α-ketoglutarate levels regulated chromatin and gene expression, and contributes to embryonic stem cell renewal.