Across her career, Jana has worn many hats — dual‑season Olympian, medical doctor, women’s health advocate, reality‑television participant, author, and mother of six.
Her ‘Drama Jana’ moments are now a distant memory.
Yet when she stepped onto the APTV stage and Miranda read the Olympian’s achievements aloud, Jana instinctively dipped her head, almost shy in the face of her own extraordinary trajectory.
I sometimes have to almost pinch myself that this new career has evolved.
Dr Jana Pittman
“I’ve had a very wonderful career,” she says.
“A lot of it’s been hard work … things that didn’t go to plan, and the chance things that came out of that, that were wonderful … it’s been an eclectic journey.”
Her transition from elite sport to obstetrics and gynaecology still feels surreal.
“I sometimes have to almost pinch myself that this new career has evolved,” she says. “I’ve been doing it for 10 years now, so it’s very wonderful.”
For Jana, the link between the track and the birth suite is resilience.
“In sport, things don’t always go to plan … and medicine’s the same, except that instead of it being more about you, it is about the patient and the family that’s in front of you.”
It’s a perspective which naturally extends to the community pharmacists she sees as essential partners in patient care.
Pharmacy frontline
Jana’s respect for community pharmacy is grounded in personal experience as much as professional collaboration. And she’s more than grateful for her local pharmacy.
“I’ve been with them for many, many years, and the amount of times when I haven’t understood something in medicine — I’ve been able to go to them and ask,” she says.
Our wonderful pharmacists see our patients probably more than we do.
Dr Jana Pittman
“In fact, in medical school, we don’t actually get an opportunity to often be with our pharmacy colleagues… and I think it is something we should do, because we can learn about the medications and what they look like.”
Jana says she has now spent some time in her local pharmacy being a part of their environment and says the experience was “amazing”.
She sees pharmacists as the “gateway” between doctor and patient, often filling communication gaps left by time‑poor clinicians.
“They’re dealing with that forefront of patients that come in and have complaints about the medications, have complaints about us as doctors — most often [about us] not giving them enough information about why we’re prescribing something, or the side effects, or if things don’t go to plan.”
In women’s health, that gateway role is expanding.
Jana points to urinary tract infection management, script extensions, and timely advice as examples of pharmacists stepping into extended care.
“The amount of times they’ve had to call me and say, ‘I’m really sorry, Jana, but you haven’t done the script correctly’ — it’s been a really beautiful environment that I felt very supported by both my local pharmacy and the ones I work with closer to my hospital.”
It’s a level of trust and back‑and‑forth she sees as fundamental to how pharmacists and doctors care for their patients together.
Working together
Collaboration between pharmacists and GPs is essential, Jana says, but not always straightforward.
“Ultimately the pharmacy is a business, but there are people there working really hard to have that collaborative approach… but it can be a challenge because sometimes there will be times where they can’t get in contact with us, when something’s not right.”
And when communication breaks down, Jana says it is the patient who suffers.
“If there’s something … that maybe there’s a medication that is actually going to be contraindicated with something else they’re also taking, and they can’t connect with us, again, that patient is the one sitting there thinking, ‘well what do I do now?’.”
Public hospitals add another layer of complexity.
“Someone who writes the script may not be the person who’s even looking after the patient nowadays,” she says.
Strengthening GP–pharmacy relationships, where continuity is possible, is where Jana sees the greatest opportunity.
Preventative care
As an ambassador for the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation, Jana believes pharmacy has enormous potential in preventative health, too.
“Our wonderful pharmacists see our patients probably more than we do,” she says.
“So it is a conversation piece: ‘Have you spoken to your GP lately, have you had your HPV vaccination? Have you had a breast screen?’,” she says.
Women’s health is ripe for deeper collaboration, Jana says, particularly in women’s health, where collaboration and extended care would be incredible.
“One of the areas we’d really love the [pharmacy landscape] to work on with us more is around our menopause space.
We all do different chameleon changes throughout life. How we handle them is different each time.
Dr Jana Pittman
Many women, she says, are unsure whether hormone replacement therapy is right for them — and pharmacists are often the trusted first point of contact.
Facing fear
Despite her Olympic pedigree, Jana says nothing compares to the fear she experiences in obstetrics.
“What I do now is so much more fearful than what I did as an athlete,” she says, recalling a recent emergency birth where the baby’s heartbeat was lost.
“I was shaking, shaking trying to help deliver this baby.”
It’s a very humbling job, she says, and fear is part of it — in medicine and in pharmacy.
“What we do matters. And there’s a patient on the other side of that… if a patient has a bad outcome for something they’ve taken, or something we’ve done… that’s real life,” she says.
“It certainly pales into insignificance — my sporting career and losing the Olympics.
“But it takes time to learn that fear. It takes time to say, ‘fear is a part of my everyday life’."
Her strategy is analytical: write down every fear, cross off what can’t be controlled, and focus only on what remains.
What I do now is so much more fearful than what I did as an athlete.
Dr Jana Pittman
“So, when you go into a fear space or a new opportunity … taking on a new goal in life, you are really just focusing on those things that you can control, rather than all the peripheral, extra mind chatter that really isn't going to influence the outcome.”
Learning from setbacks
When things go wrong, Jana doesn’t pretend to be stoic.
“I think it is really important to let yourself break,” she says.
“For me, it’s a block of chocolate and a lot of tears.
“Then you’re able to move past that and sit with that discomfort again and say … ‘look, well, what actually went wrong? What could I have done differently?’”
If nothing could have changed the outcome, she lets it go — and banks the experience as resilience for next time.
“I survived the last one. I learnt from the last one. Therefore I can approach the next one with a better attitude.”
Team dynamics
Jana’s time on the reality television programs SAS Australia: Who Dares Wins and The Amazing Race reinforced the value of teamwork — something she sees mirrored in pharmacy.
“There were a lot of big personalities … but when we broke it down, it was very raw,” she says referencing the SAS Australia show.
“I know it was just reality television, but it felt so real … and you had to kind of bring those different personalities together and collectively get the best out of your colleagues,” she says.
“And it’s the same in a pharmacy. It’s the same in a team that I work in now on the birth unit.
“And obviously, there are different levels of expertise, too, which has to come into play.
I want to talk about miscarriage and endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain. Miscarriage is a big area that I’m working in… having had several myself.
Dr Jana Pittman
“Someone who's been in it for 20, 30 years and someone who's just graduated from university — and adapting to those different personalities, I think, is the biggest key.”
Her advice to overcome differences is deceptively simple: step outside the workplace to understand the person behind the role.
“Have a coffee together… learn who that person is,” she says. “If someone’s maybe not performing… try and step into their shoes because something is often happening in their world.”
Adapting to change
Pharmacy owners, Jana says, know better than most what it means to operate at the coalface of change — from COVID‑19 to scope‑of‑practice reforms.
“We all do different chameleon changes throughout life,” she says. “How we handle them is different each time.”
She recalled nearly abandoning her dream of becoming an obstetrician because she couldn’t see how it would work as a single mother of six.
“I almost didn’t [start those studies],” she says.
Then she says a friend reminded her: “But you haven’t tried. So how do you know you can’t, until you give it a go?”
That advice — start and adjust if needed — is what she now offers to pharmacists facing the next wave of sector reform.
“It’s okay if … if that goal doesn’t eventuate, then you make a different plan. But you won’t know unless you give it a bit of go in the first place.”
What’s ahead
Politics is off the table. “I’m far too sensitive for that,” she says.
But women’s health remains her driving force.
“I want to talk about miscarriage and endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain,” she says.
“Miscarriage is a big area that I’m working in… having had several myself.”
Helping people navigate difficult conversations, she says, is where she finds her joy.
Dr Jana Pittman delivered the prestigious Ann Dalton Address at APP2026, sharing insights on resilience and high performance from her dual careers in Olympic sport and medicine.
Sponsored by iNova Pharmaceuticals, her session "Just another hurdle" focused on personal growth, leadership, and adapting to change.
You can watch Jana’s full interview on Australasian Pharmacy’s Spotify channel.
