Janet Lord is Professor of Immune Cell Biology and director of the Institute for Inflammation and Ageing at Birmingham University. She is also director of the MRC-Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research. She is the theme lead for sarcopaenia in the Birmingham NIHR BRC in Inflammation and leads the acute response to injury themes in the NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre and the Scar Free Foundation Centre for Burns Research.

Her primary research focus is on the effect of ageing upon immune function and how this limits the ability of older adults to resolve inflammation occurring in response to infectious challenge or injury. This has led her to research neutrophil function in healthy elders and also after hip fracture and during infections such as pneumonia. She also researches the link between chronic systemic inflammation and physical frailty in old age and has published papers showing that much of the increased systemic inflammation and sarcopaenia associated with ageing can be prevented by high levels of physical activity in adulthood.