Dr Jean Pepperill was born in Alice Springs, but grew up in Brisbane, before the siren call of the red earth lured her back to the NT. She worked in the arts and the media and had just finished a stint in Brisbane completing a Bachelor of Science degree when she found herself back at her Dad’s kitchen table in Alice Springs, contemplating what the future could hold.
Jean had been tempted to be a nurse, and also to work in pathology, but after a volunteer placement doing lung function testing on patients in Brisbane, she found she was most interested in why people were sent to do a lung function test.
After graduating from Flinders NT Medical Program, Jean has continued to work in Alice Spring as a doctor supporting her own community. She is currently an accredited psychiatry registrar with the Royal Australian New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and has interests in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and trauma.