She is a principal investigator and head of the tumor microenvironment and metastasis branch at the National Cancer Institute.

She did her postdoctoral research work in the laboratory of David Lyden where they discovered the concept of the Pre-metastatic niche - Wikipedia.

She is a clinician and physician scientist with active translational and clinical research interests focused on the tumor and metastatic microenvironment and mechanism of cancer spread.

Kaplan's research program focuses on developing novel biomarkers and therapeutic approaches to modulate the metastatic microenvironment.

Dr. Kaplan and her lab developed Genetically Engineered Myeloid cells (affectionately referred to as GEMys that can deliver cargo locally to reprogram the immune suppressive tumor and metastatic microenvironment.