Violet Owens, MD

Dr. Owens is the 46-year-old executive vice president of Valley Medical Group, the parent company of Warrington Family Practice and Riverside Gastroenterology. She’s divorced and has a 19-year-old son, Wyatt, a sophomore at Bucknell University. She thinks he should be pre-med, but he’s more like his father, a high school history teacher, and in a rare moment of rebellion, decided on English as his major.

She started out as an endocrinologist at a large practice owned by a major health system. She quickly found that she enjoyed the business side of medicine and, while Wyatt was young, took a break from her career to get her MBA. When she was done, she went back to work at the health system as a assistant VP of medical affairs. She was stymied, however, because the vice president wasn’t going anywhere. In addition, she couldn’t make a move into the business side of the health system because it was assumed that physicians should be involved in clinical affairs, not finance. Five years ago, she got her chance and was hired away by Valley Medical Group. She’s relieved to be out of patient care because people are way more complex than dollars and cents.

Dr. Owens is driven, organized, and has a little bit of a short fuse. She prides herself on being able to thrive on four hours of sleep a night and follows a strict diet and exercise regimen (except for her one weakness: gourmet flavored coffees). Every morning at 5 AM, she hits the gym for spin class before going to work.

She expects a lot from the people who work for her, but at the same time, is generous with praise when they meet her high standards. Stefan Mooreland is one of those people. She often gets frustrated with the physicians who work for Valley Medical Group. She hates having to drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Why can’t they understand that medicine isn’t just the local family doctor anymore? It’s a business, and there’s a bottom line.