Janet van Vlymen

Dr. Janet Miriam van Vlymen is the President of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) for the year 2022.¹⁾

She is certified for Independent Practice by the CPSO since July 8, 1991.²⁾

van Vlymen received her MD from Queen's University in 1990, where she then completed postdoctoral training from July 1, 1992 - June 30, 1996.³⁾ She moved on to a Fellowship in Ambulatory Anesthesia at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas.⁴⁾

van Vlymen practices medicine through her corporate entity, Dungey & Van Vlymen Medicine Professional Corporation, in partnership with Dr. Paul Edwin Dungey, a coroner.^{5) 6)}

van Vlymen co-authored a Society Position Paper on behalf of the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society as well as the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and Canadian Heart Rhythm Society in 2012.⁷⁾

She also donated between $250.00 and $499.00 to the CAS from May 2019 - April 2020, and January - November 2021.^{8) 9)}

In December 2021, van Vlymen was elected to the role of President of the CPSO for 2022.¹⁰⁾ She had served the previous year as Vice President.¹¹⁾

van Vlymen is the Program Medical Director for the Perioperative Services program at Kingston Health Science Centre (KHSC).¹²⁾ She practices medicine and has emergency privileges at KHSC's Kingston General Hospital and Hotel Dieu Hospital locations.¹³⁾

KHSC is funded through the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation by AmerisourceBergen, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Baxter, Bayer, Bell, BMO Financial Group, Boehringer Ingelheim, CIBC, Corus Entertainment, Costco, Covidien, Fresenius, General Electric, IBM, Imperial Oil, Janssen, KFL&A Health Unit, KPMG, LEO Pharma, Loblaws, Masonic Association of Frontenac District, Medtronic, Novartis, Novopharm, Ortho Biotech, Paladin Labs, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Queen's University, RBC (Royal Bank of Canada), Rexall, Rogers Media, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Royal Military College of Canada, Sanofi, Scotiabank, Shoppers Drug Mart, St. Jude Medical, Sun Life Financial, TC Energy, TD Bank Group, Telesta Therapeutics, TELUS, and The Tragically Hip.¹⁴⁾

In 2017, van Vlymen was appointed to the Medical Council of Canada as a representative for the CPSO and Queen's University.¹⁵⁾

van Vlymen practices medicine and has hospital privileges as Providence Care Hospital.¹⁶⁾

Providence is partnered with Queen's University, founded by Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul, sponsored by the Catholic Health Corporation of Ontario, and funded by Home and Community Care Support Services under Ontario Health. The facility is also funded through the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation.

van Vlymen is an Associate Professor and former Deputy Head of the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at Queen's University.¹⁷⁾

In 2017, van Vlymen was awarded a grant from the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation for a study called “Can healthcare-associated hepatitis C virus outbreaks occur when intravenous medication vials are accessed with clean needles and syringes for use in multiple patients?” Funding for the $148,235.00 award was provided by Medtronic.¹⁸⁾

van Vlymen published research in 2008 on ketamine, fentanyl and propofol, funded by the Physicians’ Services Incorporated Foundation.¹⁹⁾

On May 1, 2021, van Vlyen retweeted the CPSO's statement on “appropriate use of social media by physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.”²⁰⁾

In an interview with the CPSO's eDialogue newsletter, van Vlymen stated that “vaccines remain one of our strongest protections against this deadly disease, along with public health measures.” She expressed strong support for vaccine mandates, and said that it's “morally depressing and distressing to see the anti-vaccine misinformation.” She describes the process of shifting language away from guidance for doctors and into clear instructions, while increasing enforcement against doctors who disobey.²¹⁾

The following month, the office of founding Canadian Covid Care Alliance member Ira Bernstein was raided by the CPSO.^{22) 23)}