Jean was joint Co-director of the National Centre for Rural Health (1994-2003), which was the first of its kind in New Zealand. The Centre has been instrumental in promoting the need to ensure that rural health is recognised as a speciality while acknowledging the fundamental issues of potential recruitment support, development and diversity of rural practitioners. Jean’s role in the Centre was in a leadership and developmental role specifically in the development of the national role and development of rural nurses and rural nurse practitioners.

Early on in 2003 there was a change to the national funding for rural health support and education, this change, prompted Jean to reconsider her contribution to the sector. To continue on in her work for the delivery of successful rural health care and development of rural nursing in New Zealand led her to take up a position within the School of Nursing through Otago Polytechnic, with the opportunity to develop a postgraduate clinical educational programme specifically for rural nurses. The scope of practice relating to rural nursing and the knowledge or scholarly inquiry, which underpins this understanding, will form a focus for the programme.

Jean is a Fellow of the College of Nurses Aotearoa, she is also a mentor to rural nurses supporting them in their application to Nurse Practitioner through The Nurse Practitioner Advisory Committee of New Zealand. She works in the capacity of consultant for the development and delivery of rural health care.

Jean is a PhD candidate through the Department of Geography, University of Otago, NZ. Jean's PhD research is a discourse analysis on the professional identity of rural nurses. Jean is the editor of the first rural nursing text book in NZ Rural Nursing:Aspects of Practice, published in 2008.