Susan is an academic geriatrician practising at Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital in northern Sydney and at Batemans Bay and Moruya Hospitals in southern New South Wales. She holds the Curran Chair in Health Care of Older People in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney.

Her research and practice interests centre on dementia, frailty, elder abuse, successful ageing, and intergenerational programs, and her work focuses on translation of research into clinical practice.

She led the $25 million National Health and Medical Research Council Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre from 2012 to 2020, completing 32 research and implementation projects in dementia. She was awarded the 2022 Sidney Sax Medal for leadership in health services policy and delivery, and in January 2023 she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to medicine as a geriatrician, and to research into dementia and cognitive function.