18/03/2026
❄️ From Canada to Cloncurry 🌵
Meet Dr Jillian, our Regional Director of Medical Services. 👏
Jillian joined the North West in July last year, relocating from Sarina with her husband and their young son, ready for a new adventure.
Originally from Canada, Jillian’s path to rural medicine has been anything but ordinary. After completing a Bachelor of Science and a Masters in Molecular Biology, she started working as a teacher before applying — on a whim at midnight — to study medicine in Australia.
A few weeks later, she was accepted into UQ.
She’s never looked back.
Jillian completed all of her medical training regionally, becoming a Fellow of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine with advanced skills in emergency medicine. Before moving west, she worked for many years across Mackay and surrounding rural hospitals.
The Regional Director of Medical Services role was newly created in Cloncurry, with a strong focus on strengthening and supporting medical services across the North West. The model has been developed through collaboration between the Cloncurry clinic team, Queensland Country Practice and North West Hospital and Health Service.
As part of this role, Jillian works closely with the team of NWHHS doctors now based in Cloncurry, supporting medical services across both the hospital and the GP clinic, through the SEM (Single Employer Model) ‘medical agreement’ which allows doctors to be employed by Queensland Health and work in the private practice. Through this workforce model, there is a strong focus on creating a more sustainable medical service for the community.
Today, Jillian supports six NWHHS doctors living and working in Cloncurry and Julia Creek across both services, improving access to care for the town and surrounding communities. Interestingly, 2 of the registrars who started in January were Dr Jillian’s previous PHOs at Sarina Hospital who chose to come here for RACGP training!
Outside of medicine, Jillian has previously volunteered as a firefighter 👩🚒 and worked as an officer with the Air Cadets, and hopes one day to return to volunteering when life slows down a little.
For now, she’s focused on supporting medical services across the region and continuing the work to strengthen rural healthcare for the communities she now calls home.
Welcome to the North West, Dr Jillian. 🎉