During her tenure at the Washington University School of Medicine, Lawton studied the responses of isolated heart cells in response to stress.[8] She specifically discovered that using drugs meant to stop the heart or preserve it for a transplant worked effectively to stop postoperative stunning (swelling of heart cells).[4] Lawton also served in various leadership roles including as the president of Women in Thoracic Surgery (WTS), chair of the Basic Science Surgery Study Section of the American Heart Association, and vice chair of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Thoracic Residency Review Committee.[8] As president of WTS, Lawton established a fund to pay for general surgery residents to shadow female cardiothoracic surgeons, in an effort to encourage women to join the field of cardiac surgery.