Dame Sally Davies | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Davies in 2024 | |
| Master of Trinity College, Cambridge | |
| Assumed office 8 October 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Sir Gregory Winter |
| Chief Medical Officer for England | |
| In office 1 June 2010 – 1 October 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Sir Liam Donaldson |
| Succeeded by | Chris Whitty |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sally Claire Davies (1949-11-24)24 November 1949 (age 76) Birmingham, England |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent |
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| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Master, Trinity College Cambridge |
| Profession | Physician(haematologist) |
| Awards | Cameron Prize of the University of Edinburgh (2017) Suffrage Science award (2011) |
| Website | gov |
Dame Sally Claire DaviesGCB DBE FRS FMedSci (born 24 November 1949) is a British physician. She was theChief Medical Officer from 2010 to 2019 and Chief Scientific Adviser at theDepartment of Health from 2004 to 2016.[1][2] She worked as a clinician specialising in the treatment of diseases of the blood and bone marrow.[3] She is nowMaster of Trinity College, Cambridge, appointed on 8 February 2019, with effect from 8 October 2019.[3] She is one of the founders of theNational Institute for Health and Care Research.[4][5]
Davies was born on 24 November 1949 inBirmingham, England. Her fatherJohn Gordon Davies was an Anglican priest and theologian, and her mother Emily Mary Tordoff[6] was a scientist: they both became academics at the University of Birmingham.[7] She failed hereleven-plus exam but was nevertheless able to study at the privateEdgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham, where she excelled on the viola.[8][9][10]
Davies studiedmedicine atManchester Medical School at theUniversity of Manchester where she graduated with aBachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB) degree in 1972 and later[when?] obtained aMaster of Science (MSc) degree from theUniversity of London.[citation needed]
Davies described her early years in clinical practice as "brutalising" and had a four-year break from medicine as a "diplomat's wife" inMadrid, before returning to medical training at the end of the 1970s.[11]
She became a consultanthaematologist in 1985 at theCentral Middlesex Hospital in Brent – a relatively deprived part of northwest London – and becameProfessor ofHaemoglobinopathies there in 1997, by which time the hospital had been incorporated intoImperial College London.
Davies is an expert insickle cell disease: a blood disorder that mainly affects people of African heritage and causes painful 'crises' triggered by physical stress.[12]
As well as a number of academic works, Davies is the author of the bookThe Drugs Don't Work: A Global Threat (2013).[13]
Davies joined the Civil Service in 2004 to take up a research position in London and was soon promoted to Director-General of Research and Development at the Department of Health.[14][15][16] In 2006, she expanded theNational Health Service (NHS) research base through the creation of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (whose Strategy Board she chaired) and went on to become the Chief Scientific Adviser of theDepartment of Health and Social Care.[11]
In June 2010 Davies was appointed interimChief Medical Officer (United Kingdom) and was confirmed as the permanent holder of that position the following year – the first woman to hold the post.[8] The Chief Medical Officer has a rank equivalent toPermanent secretary – the highest in the Civil Service.[17]
The 'Chief' in the job title strictly refers to the incumbent's position as the most senior doctor within theCivil Service – the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Work and Pensions, for example, both employ doctors as civil servants, as of course does the Department of Health. Despite the name, the post of Chief Medical Officer has traditionally had no particular status within the medical profession as a whole – it has some parallels with the position ofSurgeon General of the United States in the USA. However, with the huge expansion in the Department of Health's purview over the past two decades, the postholder has acquired substantial practical information influence overNational Health Service policy.
Unusually for a British Chief Medical Officer, Davies does not have a background as a specialist in public health.[citation needed] Nevertheless, Davies has written and spoken extensively about the rise ofantimicrobial resistance in medicine and animal husbandry, including carrying out work to raise its profile on the international scene.[18] Davies delegated authoring and editing her statutory annual reports to other doctors and healthcare practitioners, although she wrote an introduction to each and oversaw their compilation. She is particularly concerned about excessive alcohol consumption, especially by young women – who, she told theBBC in 2013, "we know can only take about half the alcohol that men can" and so are more prone to liver damage as a result.[19]
In July 2013, she was asked by the BBC whether she had ever favoured female doctors in order to counterbalance discrimination against them as a group. Davies replied: "I probably do positively discriminate because, as the men appoint in their own image, so do I appoint in my own image. I like having bright sparky women around, so I do understand how difficult it can be for the men to actually challenge the stereotypes and think differently".[11]
In her 2014 annual report, Davies said that the government needed to make tackling obesity a national priority. The report also recommended a national audit of ovarian cancer, and challenged "taboos" around the menopause and incontinence "to make sure embarrassment is never a barrier to better health."[20]
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As of 2015, Davies was paid a salary of between £210,000 and £214,999 by the department, making her one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.[21]
In January 2016, Davies reduced the recommended weekly alcohol limit for men to that for women, in new guidelines warning of the association between alcohol consumption and some forms of cancer. The guidance gave a new weekly limit of 14 units, while at the same time saying there was no safe level of alcohol consumption.[22] TheFinancial Times said the two messages were "inherently contradictory"[23] and Professor SirDavid Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at theUniversity of Cambridge, revealed that drinking the maximum allowance set by Davies would be no more dangerous than eating bacon sandwiches or watching films.[24]
Davies has recommended banning promotion and advertising of junk foods. She wants plain packaging for junk foods as for cigarettes, and VAT increases on junk foods high in fat, salt or sugar. Davies said, "I think the polling data is pretty clear. The public think it’s time that governments acted to protect their children. Overweight and obesity is because we are all in this flood of unhealthy food marketing and advertising. We need to close those floodgates".[25]
Davies was heavily critical of the state of the NHS, saying that it had fewer doctors, nurses, beds and ventilators than in similar countries. Commentators were also critical of austerity and the state in which it had left the NHS and public health system. Furthermore,University College London epidemiology professorSir Michael Marmot said that the UK had entered the pandemic with "depleted" public services, leaving it less able to cope.[26]
On 8 February 2019, she was announcedMaster elect ofTrinity College, Cambridge, in succession toSir Gregory Winter.[27] She is the first woman to hold the appointment.[28] She was installed as the 39th Master of Trinity College during a ceremony on 8 October 2019.[29]
In 2022, Trinity College established a relief fund of £250,000 for Ukrainian students of the college facing hardship following theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[30] In a meeting with student representatives in 2024, Dame Sally stated that she "regretted" this action, adding that the college had "no interest in divesting from arms companies".[31]
In June 2019, Davies was appointed as the UK Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)[32] where she represents the UK government internationally. In her role, she also works across government on the "one health approach" and advises on the delivery of the 5-year action plan and the 20-year vision on AMR.[33]
In addition, Davies is a member of the United Nations Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (IACG).[34] Since 2020, she has also been a member of theGlobal Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, co-chaired bySheikh Hasina andMia Mottley.[35]
In February 2013, Davies was said to be the sixth “most powerful” woman in the United Kingdom, by theBBC Radio 4 programmeWoman's Hour,.[36] In 2015 theHealth Service Journal ranked her as the most influential woman in the English NHS and 14th most influential person.[37]
In the2009 New Year Honours Davies was appointedDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to medicine.[38]
Davies was elected aFellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2014[1] and aFellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2002.[16] She was awarded theCameron Prize of the University of Edinburgh in 2017.
In the2020 New Year Honours, Davies became the second woman (and the first outside theRoyal Family, as well as ignoring foreign politicians as honorary members) to be appointedDame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB), for services to public health and research.[39][40] On 5 March 2020, in an Investiture ceremony atBuckingham Palace, she received the insignia from thePrince of Wales.[41]
In 1974, Davies married Ralph Skilbeck, a diplomat;[7] they divorced in 1982. She remarried in 1982; her second husband died later that year from leukaemia.[42] In 1989 she married the Dutch haematologistWillem H. Ouwehand, a professor of haematology at theUniversity of Cambridge, with whom she has two daughters.[43]
"All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available underCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.” –"Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved9 March 2016.
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| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Chief Medical Officer for Her Majesty's Government 2010 to 2019 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Master of Trinity College, Cambridge 2019 to present | Incumbent |
Authority control databases: Academics |
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