MB ChB Manch Vict 1918, MD 1920.
Cardwell was resident medical officer at the Municipal Park Hospital Oldham from 1918-1923 where she was in charge of a number of different departments. She also conducted a military outpatient department, dealing with cases of functional nervous disorder. In 1923 she entered general practice in Oldham. She was also medical officer to Hulme Grammar School Oldham, and medical registrar at Ancoats Hospital. Cardwell was a Board of Education lecturer in child hygiene. When she retired from general practice in 1942, Cardwell became examining medical officer for the Ministry of Health and Pensions in Preston. Having maintained her interest in psychiatry, Cardwell became an assistant psychiatrist at Whittington Hospital, near Preston. She held this post from the 1950s until the age of 80. Cardwell died on 21 January 1979.