About
Rebellious Health is a forward-thinking, open-minded community of healthcare professionals with connection and true wellbeing at the heart of what we do.
Our mission is to co-create, envision, reimagine and rebuild a healthcare ecosystem that is better for healthcare workers, better for patients and better for the planet.
This starts with healing our healers.
We were born from a desire to do things differently in a system that suppresses our creativity and humanity, and instead fuels burnout and a growing sense of demoralisation.
Rebellious Health is working on an innovative and exciting solution to the healthcare system and workforce crisis by prioritising our wellbeing needs first.
My journey
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Dr Emma Presern
Adventurer | GP | Lifestyle Medic
Quiet Rebel | Writer
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Rebellious Health was founded in 2024, although the seed was planted in 2019. Growing up in Nepal, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Switzerland, and having lived and worked in the UK and Australia, home was always somewhat difficult to define. It's been a meandering, nomadic, adventurous journey to get to where I now live in the foothills of Eryri National Park in North Wales but my experiences have shaped my views around healthcare, wellbeing and purpose. Rebellious Health is very close to my heart. It's been a creative, chaotic melting pot of ideas and brain downloads for a long time, but it's starting to take root and grow.
Prior to studying medicine at Barts Medical School, I did a degree in anatomical science and neuroscience, and have always been fascinated by the brain, the mind and the body.
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Following a two year period of burnout during my specialist training in general practice, I embarked on a deeply personal journey of soul searching, self development and self healing. Confronting aspects of both my personal and professional life head on, this is where my passion for holistic wellbeing, nature connection, and adventure was reignited.
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A year long sabbatical from clinical medicine gave me the time to reflect on what health and wellbeing really meant - to me and my colleagues, and for my patients. Studying for a diploma in lifestyle medicine, researching and immersing myself into breathwork practices, and undertaking a six week solo hike through the Slovene Mountains all served as catalysts for a breakthrough for Rebellious Health and its mission.
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I returned to complete my GP training in East London with a renewed sense of purpose and energy. Unfortunately, the cultural and systemic issues that were at the root cause of my burnout have not changed. These are all contributing to the ever worsening workforce crisis in healthcare systems, failing our healthcare workers and failing our patients.
So I'm on a mission to start a rebellion. A quiet rebellion, a rebellion from the inside, but a rebellion nonetheless. It's a rebellion against our current system. A rebellion against the old ways of working, which are definitely no longer working.
