Studied pharmacy at the University of Queensland, graduating in 1990. She was offered two hospital placements and spent her pre-registration year working at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, including rotations to the Royal Women's and Royal Children's hospitals.
Married and worked in community pharmacies in Bundaberg including locum work until being appointed as Chief Pharmacist at Bundaberg Base Hospital at the age of 25. She worked in this job until the birth of her son David, in late 1997 when she stopped working. Shortly after this she separated from her husband and became a single parent pensioner, supplemented with occasional part time pharmacy work.
All her management and community pharmacy experience was to prove helpful in 2002, when she found the pharmacy in Jandowae for sale on the internet. Buying the pharmacy offered a way to work from home as a pharmacist and manage the challenges of being a single mother and has been a great decision. Since she bought the pharmacy in December of 2002, Jandowae Pharmacy has been re-fitted and the stock range expanded and with the support of the community, has prospered.
Sharon always says it is the best job she has ever had. There are not the stresses of living and working in city pharmacies and there is great professional satisfaction in being able to develop relationships with her customers and follow their progress over several years. It is particularly lovely to watch children and young people develop and grow, but you also learn a lot from watching people experience and come through difficult times.