Before she held these positions, she worked as a neurologist at Royal Melbourne Health and engaged in extensive neurological research, especially epilepsy.
She concluded that late diagnosis and insufficient criteria definitions significantly lowered a patient's quality of life, and that medical professionals must seek to combine neurological and psychiatric testing for earlier, more accurate diagnoses.
[6] A similar study found that patients with epilepsy showed increased neural atrophy and hypometabolism of the hippocampus.
Kilpatrick and her partners recommended that further studies be conducted to better understand the long-term mental health implications of AEDs.
[10] In addition, Kilpatrick participated in a more recent study where patients with focal epilepsy were assessed for their mental health over an 11 year period.