[4] Thakker is also a Consultant physician at the Churchill Hospital and the John Radcliffe Hospital, Principal investigator (PI) at the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM) and was Chairman of the NIHR/MRC Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Board until Spring 2016.

[3] Thakker's research investigates neuroendocrine tumours such as multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1)[2][11][13][14] and the molecular basis of disorders of calcium homeostasis.

His nomination reads: Thakker has made a sustained series of major contributions to endocrinology, particularly parathyroid and renal disorders affecting calcium homeostasis.

His research at the basic-science and clinical interface has resulted in seminal gene discoveries and insights into molecular, cellular and physiological mechanisms.

These include: identification of functional pathways of calcium-sensing, through characterisation of mutations of the calcium-sensing-receptor, a G-protein-coupled- receptor (GPCR), and its signalling pathway through G-protein-alpha-11-subunit (Gα11) and adaptor-protein-2-sigma-subunit (AP2σ), which regulates GPCR endocytosis; and defining a molecular-based taxonomy of syndromic and non-syndromic hyperparathyroid and hypoparathyroid disorders that has resulted in new pathophysiological insights and advances in diagnosis and treatment.