 In 1936 Pickford was awarded a Beit Memorial Fellowship and in 1939 reported on the antidiuretic effect of injecting acetylcholine into the brain.In 1939 she became lecturer in the department of physiology at the University of Edinburgh, where she remained until she retired in 1972.She graduated DSc in 1951, was promoted to Reader in 1952 and in 1966 became Professor of Physiology

In 1954 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).