Sally Lord is Head of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Notre Dame and Senior Research Fellow, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Clinical Trials Centre, The University of Sydney. Her research interests are in improving methods for the development and evaluation of medical tests, biomarkers and risk models to guide treatment decisions.

She collaborates with researchers around Australia and internationally on methodological projects and the design of clinical studies, including diagnostic test accuracy studies, prognostic studies to improve the classification of disease, clinical trials to assess the impact of tests on health outcomes, and decision models to estimate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of tests. Her research is widely cited in guidelines for the evaluation of tests internationally including by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, United States; National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, United Kingdom, and the Cochrane Collaboration. She is a member of the European Federation of Laboratory Medicine Test Evaluation Working Group to improve the development and evaluation of laboratory tests used in clinical practice.

She co-ordinates the Clinical Research Methods and Developing a Research Protocol units in the Masters of Medicine and Surgery at Notre Dame; and the Biomarkers Studies unit in the Masters of Clinical Trials Research at the University of Sydney; and is a member of the Protocol Advisory Sub-committee to Medical Services Advisory Committee.