In The Eye Of The Storm

Fiona Davies Chief executive of the Australian Medical Association NSW. Age 45; shares four children with neurosurgeon husband Brian; lives in Sydney. Business graduate who feels queasy at the sight of blood. First job was assistant to an industrial relations commissioner during the 1990s. Always interested in cooking and maybe becoming a chef. Aware she had choices that women before her didn’t, she champions women around her. Has climbed Tasmania’s highest mountain, Ossa, and getting on top of her finances was a recent achievement.

- Julia Newbould

Juggling the safety of doctors at the front line of Covid-19 as well as supporting those who have been forced to close their practice provides the Australian Medical Association (AMA) with an interesting dynamic.

Fiona Davies, head of AMA NSW, says she never expected to have to help doctors out of work – they’re generally protected from significant economic downturns. What makes it most challenging is that shutdowns aren’t due to a lack of work but because there isn’t enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep staff and the public safe.

“We’re trying to balance one part of our membership with the safety and wellbeing of another part of our membership, which is quite challenging,” she says.

Davies has no medical background and she’s been known to get queasy on hospital visits, but it hasn’t stopped her leading the premier doctors’ association in NSW for more than 10 years.

In addition to more than 20 years representing doctors, she is also married to neurosurgeon Brian Owler, once AMA president and Labor contender for former Prime Minister John Howard’s seat of Bennelong.

To say the couple don’t like a quiet life is an understatement. Between them they are raising four children aged 10, 11, 12, and 16. With Owler’s youngest child having autism, the couple have a strong interest in understanding the impact and joy of disability as well as the lens it brings to your life to see things differently.