Dr. Janet van Vlymen  elected President of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario

News & Announcements | 19 Jan 2022

Queen’s Health Sciences is pleased to announce that Dr. Janet van Vlymen has been elected President of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO).

As President (effective December 10, 2021), Dr. van Vlymen’s priorities include addressing fatigue and burnout from the ongoing pandemic and supporting physician wellness. She said CPSO needs to have clear messaging of support for doctors as we come out of the pandemic.

“Physicians will continue to experience moral injury from deferred surgical and procedural care of thousands of patients during the provincial slowdowns and will need to work to address the surgical backlog,” Dr. van Vlymen said. “The pandemic has seen tremendous growth in virtual care and the new CPSO policy coming this year will help ensure the right balance between virtual and in-person care.”

The CPSO is the organization responsible for regulating the practice of medicine in Ontario. Dedicated to the continuous improvement of the quality of care provided by physicians, the CPSO Council addresses topics such as policy, governance, complaints, and quality assurance.  

Dr. van Vlymen brings a diverse background to her new role – both as an academic and anesthesiologist. At Queen’s, she is an Associate Professor and previous Deputy Head of the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine. At the Kingston Health Science Centre (KHSC), Dr. van Vlymen’s clinical interests include preoperative assessment, ambulatory anesthesia, and perioperative medicine, and she is currently the Program Medical Director for the Perioperative Services program. 

Her CPSO experience includes serving as Vice-President since Dec. 4, 2020, chairing the Quality Assurance and the Education Advisory Committees, and serving as the CPSO council’s academic representative for Queen’s since 2016. 

“The next few years are going to be challenging with the enormous backlog of patients waiting for surgery and procedures,” Dr. van Vlymen told CPSO in a recent interview. “There will be a huge need for additional resources to support this care at a time when we are seeing all types of health care workers leaving the profession.”

Watch an interview with Dr. van Vlymen about her new role:

Dr. Janet van Vlymen  elected President of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario

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