After attending Morgan Academy, Jan went in 1932 to work in Perth City Fever Hospital, where she became a staff nurse. She then worked in Aberdeen, in Ashludie, and in Maryfield Hospital where she was matron from 1948 to 1969, when she became Principal Nursing Officer to the Dundee division of Tayside Health Board. She was the first secretary of the Dundee Committee for Cancer Relief. She lived in Blackness Road, was an elder of Stobswell Church and was awarded the OBE in 1970