Clinical Senior Lecturer
BSc, MBChB, MD, MRCOG, FRANZCOG
Fiona started General Obstetrics and Gynaecology training in the Yorkshire Deanery, UK before moving to London to complete the higher training years. She then worked as an RCOG/VSO Fellow for 6 months in Ethiopia which allowed her to increase her experience in obstetrics and gynaecology, and particularly urogynaecology in a very different setting. For her it showed how important it is to share knowledge and skills on a global scale. Fiona subsequently returned to the UK to complete Urogynaecology Subspecialty Training at The Birmingham Women’s Hospital.
Fiona now works as an Obstetrics and Gynaecology Consultant at Christchurch Women’s Hospital and privately at Oxford Women’s Health, both in Christchurch, New Zealand. As part of this she travels to the West Coast of New Zealand to provide out-reach urogynaecology services. Fiona enjoys working with a large multidisciplinary team of midwives, specialist nurses, physiotherapists, radiologists, urologists, and colorectal surgeons. Her medical philosophy is that women should be in control of their own health, and doctors should work alongside them to establish the best treatment outcomes available.
Research interests
During Fiona’s Clinical Sciences BSc she gained laboratory research experience in how to develop a project, run the experiments, and publish results looking at immunohistochemistry protocols to identify genes involved in angiogenesis of colorectal cancer.
In addition to clinical medicine, she has developed a real interest in health care outcomes. When in the UK, she sat on the BSUG British Society of Urogynaecology database committee whose work involved shaping the future of the database and therefore the way patients would be followed up. She was awarded a grant to develop her work on outcomes from the database and the potential for a predictive model using STATA and statistical methods and was awarded an MD Postgraduate Research Degree (Doctor of Medicine) for this work.
Teaching
Fiona have always enjoyed formal and informal teaching and found great pleasure in passing on knowledge and skills which is routine throughout medical training. Additionally, she was Course Director for Life Saving Skills: Essential Obstetric Care and Newborn Care (LSTM, WHO, RCOG, LATH) in Harare, Zimbabwe (2013) and currently teaches on the PROMPT (PRactical Obstetric Multi-Professional Training) course.
As a supplement to teaching Fiona published two books in the “Get Ahead!” series, which are MCQ and EMQ books for medical students. She has contributed to a series of on-line information videos for obstetrics and gynaecology.
Fiona is currently a Co-convener for the O&G Trainee Intern module at the University’s Christchurch Campus.
Service to the University / HNZ / professional bodies
Fiona is an elected board member for the Urogynaecological Society of Australasia (UGSA) (Secretary). She is part of the RANZCOG Urogynaecology working group which is a group developed by the RANZCOG College in response to the changes that occurred due to the pause in use of Mesh for Stress Urinary Incontinence. Fiona is also a member of the Mesh Round table, an oversight and monitoring group chaired by the Ministry of Health.
Fiona is a part of the Steering Committee and Clinical Advisory Board for the Australasian Pelvic Floor Procedure Registry (APFPR) which is a registry where prolapse and incontinence procedures can be entered with outcomes recorded to improve patient safety.