Sarah Elizabeth Lamb (known as Sallie) FMedSci is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Exeter, and the Mireille Gillings Professor for Health Innovation. She is also an Honorary Departmental Professor at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford and was the Foundation Director of the Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit.
Lamb is a medical researcher at the University of Exeter.[6][1] She is committed to improving the quality of medical trials to ensure better patient outcomes and value for money.[7][8] Her career involves both clinical trials and musculoskeletal rehabilitation.[9] She works on interventions that can improve the function of elderly people with cognitive impairments and comorbidities.[3] She is particularly interested in minimally invasive approaches to target geriatric syndromes and manage severe injury.[3] These include the rehabilitation of chronic conditions and non-medical healthcare contact.[9]
Prior to joining the University of Exeter in 2019 Lamb led the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences at the University of Oxford.[10] In 2009 she identified that cast worn below the knee could improve severe ankle sprains, which account for 1.5 million emergency room attendances per year in the UK.[11] In 2011 she was part of a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on the management of hip fractures.[12][13] In 2012 she founded the Rehab Research lab group at the University of Oxford.[14] She looked at various treatments for Whiplash and found that whilst physiotherapy has short-term benefits, including improvement of neck mobility, it is not cost-effective.[11] She appeared on the Association of Trauma and Orthopaedic Chartered Physiotherapists Physio Matters Podcast in 2015.[15][16] She believes that physios should be challenging low-quality, flawed, clinical trials and improve medical practice.[17] She identified that a hand exercise programme improves quality and function for Rheumatoid arthritis patients.[18] She has also found that education and targeted training can improve the physical activity of patients with lower back pain.[19] In 2020, she identified that 'Advice by mail, screening for fall risk, and a targeted exercise or multifactorial intervention to prevent falls did not result in fewer fractures than advice by mail alone.[20]
^Ftouh, Saoussen; Morga, Antonia; Swift, Cameron; Guideline Development Group (2011-06-21). "Management of hip fracture in adults: summary of NICE guidance". BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.). 342: d3304. doi:10.1136/bmj.d3304. ISSN1756-1833. PMID21693526. S2CID44640929.
