He was on the editorial board of several journals including Nano Letters, Nature Clinical Practice Oncology, and Science Translational Medicine.

He then entered the combined MD–PhD Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and received his MD, and his PhD in biomathematics.

[9] In 2003, he moved to Stanford University and was appointed professor of radiology, head of nuclear medicine, director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), director of the Precision Health and Integrated Diagnostics (PHIND) Center,[10] division chief of the Canary Center for Cancer Early Detection, and member of the Bio-X Program.

[8][11] Gambhir received the following: His research focused on the development of imaging assays to monitor fundamental cellular/molecular events in living subjects with an emphasis on the detection and management of cancer.

A particular interest of his research and lab was early cancer detection including combining in vivo and in vitro diagnostics.