Kairen moved to Aberdeen from London in 1990 and after training as a District Nurse, spent the next 26 years working as a Cystic Fibrosis Nurse Specialist. After retiring in 2019, she returned to work for a year as a vaccinator in Banchory, during the pandemic. She currently works as an Office Administrator for the Home-Start charity in Banchory. Kairen published her first book in 2020 recounting her experiences working with people who have cystic fibrosis and her second book was published in 2022, having interviewed Healthcare Workers in NHS Grampian about their experiences of working through the Covid-19 pandemic.