After qualifying a Speech and Language therapist Pam worked in the National Health Service in London and Bristol where she set up the 1st Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC ) Centre and the Speech and Language Therapy Research Unit.
She was the lead claimant in a landmark legal case for equal pay in the NHS which led the government to institute a review of pay and grading scales for SLTs and consequently throughout the United Kingdom health service.
In 1995 she moved to Sheffield to a combined NHS and University research post. She has held the positions of Head of Dept and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. She has been the Clinical Director of the South Yorkshire Comprehensive Local Research Network (09-12) and in 2012-14 was Chair of the Sheffield HealthWatch. She has served on and Chaired the Board of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and acted as President the Society for Research in Rehabilitation. More recently (2019-2022) she has been President of the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP).
She is author of 14 books and published 230 peer-reviewed journal articles. Her areas of research interests include: outcome measurement, assessment, technology in rehabilitation, evaluation of rehabilitation and speech and language therapy.
She was awarded a Fellowship of the College of Speech Therapists, was honoured with an MBE and more recently an OBE for services to Speech and Language Therapy. In 2012 she was recipient of the Robin Tavistock award for her contribution to Aphasia research and recently (2016) presented the Bipin Bhakta distinguished scholar lecture to the Society for Research in Rehabilitation and the Princess Margaret lecture to the UK Stroke Forum. A DSc was awarded by the University of the West of England in 2000 and further DSc by the University of Sheffield in 2022.