Joyce Daws was born in England in 1925 and settled in Australia in 1956. She was educated at the Royal School for Naval and Marine Officers' Daughters, St Paul's Girls' School (Hammersmith), the Royal Free Hospital and University of London. In Melbourne she worked at the following hospitals in the field of thoracic surgery: Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital (1958-1985), Royal Melbourne Hospital (1958-1967), Prince Henry's Hospital (1967-1975) and C J Officer Brown Unit at the Alfred Hospital (1970-1985).

Since 1974, Daws has been a member of the Victorian Nursing Council of which she was chairman from 1983-1989. Also in 1974 Joyce Daws became president of the Victoria Medical Women's Society as well as being Honorary Secretary of the Victorian Branch of the Australian Medical Association. In 1976, Joyce Daws was president of the Cancer Institute of Victoria and a board member from 1978 to 1980. She was a board member of After Care Hospital (1977-1987) and president (1980-1985). In 1984 she was chairman of the Academic and Professional Panel.

A member of the Lyceum Club and Soroptimist International (Melbourne), Dame Joyce Daws enjoys opera, swimming, travel and proteas (from 1987 to 1996 she was chairman of the International Protea Association).

Sources used to compile this entry: Herd, Margaret (ed.), Who's who in Australia 2002, 38 edn, Crown Content, Melbourne, 2002, 2020 pp. pp. 545-46..