Jackie has a background of many years in Coronary Care nursing and is a Nurse Practitioner specialising in Cardiometabolic Disorders & Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH), Assessment and Diagnostic Services and operates her private practice; Perth Lipid Clinic; in Primary care at 2 GP Practices and a Specialist Cardiology Practice. Jackie works in a collaborative arrangement with Prof Gerald Watts.

Jackie is also involved in a national research project and is currently the WA Clinical Research Coordinator for the CAUGHT-CAD Heart Study.

Her special interest is in:

• Familial Hypercholestorlaemia (FH) detection and management
• Cascade screening of family members for possible FH/ initiating management/ early detection of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)
• Management of statin intolerance
• Assistance with medication compliance
• Lifestyle management and intervention care for patients with elevated cholesterol.
• Referral of ‘high risk’ patients (after initial work up and screening) to the Lipid Disorders Clinic at Royal Perth Hospital.
• Management and assessment for dyslipidaemias

What am I passionate about?

My passion is to be a champion for the establishment of Nurse Managed Lipid Clinics to facilitate the identification, cascade screening and management of those patients, and their families, who have the genetically inherited disorder of cholesterol metabolism known as Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH).

FH can be a silent killer. It is present from birth and if left untreated will lead to early onset coronary artery disease (CAD) and possible cardiac death at a young age. Early identification and treatment can, in most cases, prevent morbidity and mortality. Increased awareness of this disorder and the early identification of patients with FH by nurses, who are the backbone of our health care system, will permit timely and appropriate referral and intervention by GPs or specialist clinicians.

I am committed to facilitating nurse education in the area of FH and have established effective and ethical partnerships with industry and hospital staff development units, and developed this dedicated website to enable vital education on FH and other lipid disorders to be delivered more broadly. Additionally, an educational book for nurses titled ‘Pocket Atlas of FH for Nurses’ is under way, and I aiming to have it available in the first half of 2020.

Through my own experience in establishing Perth Lipid Clinic, and the continued support of my clinical collaborators and mentors, I now have the experience and knowledge to help nurses, GPs and other specialists set up clinics to provide specialised health care to the FH and other lipid disorder populations.