Dr. Hawley is the Royal College representative to the Conjoint Advisory Committee on Palliative Care. Dr. Hawley completed Internal Medicine training in New Zealand in 1986 after completing medical school and internship in England. She moved to Vancouver to work with Julio Montaner in HIV research, then completed Canadian Internal Medicine certification in Vancouver, including a 2-year self-directed Palliative Medicine fellowship.
In 1997, she set up the Pain and Symptom Management/Palliative Care Program for the BC Cancer Agency and remains its medical leader.
Dr. Hawley has research interests in many areas of supportive and palliative care, including the assessment and management of opioid-induced constipation, management of severe cancer pain, methadone for analgesia, management of radiation-induced mucositis, and the integration of palliative care into oncology.